APOD: Meteor before Galaxy (2022 Aug 07)

[APOD Robot]

Meteor before Galaxy

Explanation: What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks later this week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[Astronymus]

The flares look like a pattern. Probably due to rotation, I guess.

[daddyo]

Missed the core by “that much”

[XgeoX]

Just a stunning image…
Space cat approves!



Eric

[orin stepanek]

MeteorM31_hemmerich_1948.jpg

Jedi laser powers past Andromeda!

[Chris Peterson]

The flares look like a pattern. Probably due to rotation, I guess.

More likely related to the fluffy, inhomogeneous nature of the parent body.

[johnnydeep]

The flares look like a pattern. Probably due to rotation, I guess.

More likely related to the fluffy, inhomogeneous nature of the parent body.

Maybe both? I think the pattern Astronymus is referring to is the pretty regular spacing of the flares (ignoring how bright they are and the interruption over the body of Andromeda):

meteor flare intervals.JPG

[Chris Peterson]

The flares look like a pattern. Probably due to rotation, I guess.

More likely related to the fluffy, inhomogeneous nature of the parent body.

Maybe both? I think the pattern Astronymus is referring to is the pretty regular spacing of the flares (ignoring how bright they are and the interruption over the body of Andromeda):


meteor flare intervals.JPG

Maybe, but I'm more inclined to think rotation isn't involved. A tiny particle like this would probably align in a fixed orientation even before the air got dense enough for it to start ablating. The flare distance would suggest a rotation rate of about 10/s, which is awfully fast.

[VictorBorun]

More likely related to the fluffy, inhomogeneous nature of the parent body.

Maybe both? I think the pattern Astronymus is referring to is the pretty regular spacing of the flares (ignoring how bright they are and the interruption over the body of Andromeda):


meteor flare intervals.JPG

Maybe, but I'm more inclined to think rotation isn't involved. A tiny particle like this would probably align in a fixed orientation even before the air got dense enough for it to start ablating. The flare distance would suggest a rotation rate of about 10/s, which is awfully fast.

what if that tiny particle was stereo asymmetric and got spinned up by the headwind?

[Chris Peterson]

Maybe both? I think the pattern Astronymus is referring to is the pretty regular spacing of the flares (ignoring how bright they are and the interruption over the body of Andromeda):


meteor flare intervals.JPG

Maybe, but I'm more inclined to think rotation isn't involved. A tiny particle like this would probably align in a fixed orientation even before the air got dense enough for it to start ablating. The flare distance would suggest a rotation rate of about 10/s, which is awfully fast.

what if that tiny particle was stereo asymmetric and got spinned up by the headwind?

Anything is possible. I think it is unlikely. I think the apparent repetition of the flaring is probably just coincidence and our tendency to see patterns even when there aren't any.

[johnnydeep]

Maybe, but I'm more inclined to think rotation isn't involved. A tiny particle like this would probably align in a fixed orientation even before the air got dense enough for it to start ablating. The flare distance would suggest a rotation rate of about 10/s, which is awfully fast.

what if that tiny particle was stereo asymmetric and got spinned up by the headwind?

Anything is possible. I think it is unlikely. I think the apparent repetition of the flaring is probably just coincidence and our tendency to see patterns even when there aren't any.

Yeah, we humans sure do tend to do that. But fortunately, such an ability (or gift) also comes in very handy for discovering new science!

[Chris Peterson]

what if that tiny particle was stereo asymmetric and got spinned up by the headwind?

Anything is possible. I think it is unlikely. I think the apparent repetition of the flaring is probably just coincidence and our tendency to see patterns even when there aren't any.

Yeah, we humans sure do tend to do that. But fortunately, such an ability (or gift) also comes in very handy for discovering new science!

Yes... as long as we recognize the bias is there and don't let it take over. (True of all the biases that are wired into us!)

[johnnydeep]

Anything is possible. I think it is unlikely. I think the apparent repetition of the flaring is probably just coincidence and our tendency to see patterns even when there aren't any.

Yeah, we humans sure do tend to do that. But fortunately, such an ability (or gift) also comes in very handy for discovering new science!

Yes... as long as we recognize the bias is there and don't let it take over. (True of all the biases that are wired into us!)

And sadly, our History (and our present), is rife with stories of people who lack the ability to distinguish between the real and imagined patterns/"connections" they see and end up promulgating pseudoscience or worse.

[Astronymus]

Hey, hey. Calm down. It was a suggestion, not a new theory. One would have to analyse many pictures to determine if it "could" be a pattern or just a coincidence. And as micrometeorites do... did rotate, that's known due their melting pattern, I wondered...

[johnnydeep]

Hey, hey. Calm down. It was a suggestion, not a new theory. One would have to analyse many pictures to determine if it "could" be a pattern or just a coincidence. And as micrometeorites do... did rotate, that's known due their melting pattern, I wondered...

No worries. Hope you didn't take my remarks to be casting aspersions in your direction. That was not my intent. We're all friends here!

[Astronymus]

Hey, hey. Calm down. It was a suggestion, not a new theory. One would have to analyse many pictures to determine if it "could" be a pattern or just a coincidence. And as micrometeorites do... did rotate, that's known due their melting pattern, I wondered...

No worries. Hope you didn't take my remarks to be casting aspersions in your direction. That was not my intent. We're all friends here!

I didn't, you are safe. I just feared you others might begin to tear each other into pieces for this spontaneous idea of mine. I'm not here very often.