双子座来自双子座
(原标题: Geminids from Gemini)
2021-11-16
浏览次数: 33
这些流星都是从哪里来的？就天空的方向而言，准确的答案是双子座。这就是为什么12月的主要流星雨被称为双子座——因为流星雨似乎都来自双子座的辐射源。然而，从三维的角度来看，这颗不寻常的小行星3200法厄同喷出的沙粒大小的碎片沿着一条明确的轨道围绕我们的太阳运行，而接近地球的轨道部分重叠在双子座的前面。因此，当地球穿过这个轨道时，碎片的辐射点出现在双子座。这是2020年双子座流星雨期间拍摄的许多照片的合成图，显示了12月14日晚上划过天空的200多颗明亮的流星。十一月最好的流星雨，狮子座流星雨，将在今晚和明天达到顶峰。不幸的是，今年，在明亮的月亮照亮的天空下，清晨高峰期的暗淡流星将很难看到。尽管如此，每小时仍能看到几颗明亮的狮子座流星。
查看原文解释
Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Gemini. That is why the major meteor shower in December is known as the Geminids -- because shower meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward Gemini. Three dimensionally, however, sand-sized debris expelled from the unusual asteroid 3200 Phaethon follows a well-defined orbit about our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of the constellation of Gemini. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris appears in Gemini. Featured here, a composite of many images taken during the 2020 Geminids meteor shower shows over 200 bright meteors that streaked through the sky during the night December 14. The best meteor shower in November, the Leonids, peaks tonight and tomorrow. Unfortunately, this year, dim meteors during the early-morning peak will be hard to see against a sky lit by a bright gibbous moon. Still, a few bright Leonid meteors should be visible each hour.
© Wang Jin