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APOD
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.
A Colorful Quadrantid Meteor
Explanation: Meteors can be colorful. While the human eye usually cannot discern many colors, cameras often can. Pictured is a Quadrantids meteor captured by camera over Missouri , USA , early this month that was not only impressively bright, but colorful. The radiant grit , likely cast off by asteroid 2003 EH1 , blazed a path across Earth's atmosphere . Colors in meteors usually originate from ionized elements released as the meteor disintegrates, with blue-green typically originating from magnesium , calcium radiating violet, and nickel glowing green. Red, however, typically originates from energized nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. This bright meteor ic fireball was gone in a flash -- less than a second -- but it left a wind-blown ionization trail that remained visible for several minutes.
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| Date | February 2, 2021 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit & Copyright: Frank Kuszaj |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |