                        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.

                               2022 August 16

                         A Meteor Wind over Tunisia
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Makrem Larnaout

   Explanation: Does the Earth ever pass through a wind of meteors? Yes,
   and they are frequently visible as meteor showers. Almost all meteors
   are sand-sized debris that escaped from a Sun-orbiting comet or
   asteroid, debris that continues in an elongated orbit around the Sun.
   Circling the same Sun, our Earth can move through an orbiting debris
   stream, where it can appear, over time, as a meteor wind. The meteors
   that light up in Earth's atmosphere, however, are usually destroyed.
   Their streaks, though, can all be traced back to a single point on the
   sky called the radiant. The featured image composite was taken over two
   days in late July near the ancient Berber village Zriba El Alia in
   Tunisia, during the peak of the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower.
   The radiant is to the right of the image. A few days ago our Earth
   experienced the peak of a more famous meteor wind -- the Perseids.

                   Tomorrow's picture: stargate milky way
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