Jason DavisAug 14, 2013

Pretty Picture: A Plethora of Perseids

Did you make it outside this week to see the Perseid meteor shower? The annual display, caused by the Earth's passage through debris from Comet Swift–Tuttle, peaked between August 11 and 13. Judging from some photos popping up around the Internet, a moonless sky helped the Perseids put on a good show.

One such photo comes from Adam Block at the Mount Lemmon Skycenter. While leading public observing of the meteor shower at the Schulman Telescope, Adam snapped a series of 30 second exposures and combined them into a single image. The result shows at least a dozen meteors streaking through the sky over Arizona’s Catalina Mountains.

Adam also created a version of the image with star trails, and posted a timelapse video of the scene.

Perseid meteor shower 2013
Perseid meteor shower 2013 This image combines 12 frames of Perseid meteors glowing as they enter the Earth's atmosphere as seen from the Mount Lemmon Skycenter, Arizona in 2013. The camera was focused on the shower's radiant, the constellation Perseus.Image: Adam Block / Mount Lemmon Skycenter

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