                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 September 28

                            Night of the Perseids
     Video Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander & Dorje Angchuk; Music: Tea
                            Time via PremiumBeat

   Explanation: Have you ever experienced a meteor shower? To help capture
   the wonder, a video was taken during the peak of the recent Perseid
   meteor shower above the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle,
   India, high up in the Himalayan mountains. Night descends as the video
   begins, with the central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy approaching from
   the left and Earth-orbiting satellites zipping by overhead. During the
   night, the flash of meteors that usually takes less than a second is
   artificially extended. The green glow of most meteors is typically
   caused by vaporizing nickel. As the video continues, Orion rises and
   meteors flare above the 2-meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope and the
   seven barrels of the High Energy Gamma Ray Telescope (Hagar). The 2
   minute 30 second movie ends with the Sun rising, preceded by a false
   dawn of zodiacal light.

                   Tomorrow's picture: jet lightning video
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