What are they? Five streaks near the bottom of the above image taken near Ankara [ http://en.wikipedia…], Turkey [ http://en.wikipedia…] on Sunday would be identified at first glance as meteors from the Perseids meteor shower [ http://science.nasa…] peaking just that night. Unexpectedly, however, these streaks do not point back to the Perseids radiant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in Perseus [ http://chandra.harv…]. Their origin is therefore somewhat unclear. The above image was captured over the time span of 40 minutes. Other visible celestial icons include the constellation Orion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and the Pleiades star cluster [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. One hypothesis is that the streaks [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are part of a microburst from a much less active meteor shower known as the Alpha Ursae Majorids [ http://meteorshower…]. Another possibility is that they are parts of a satellite [ http://www.reentryn…] that broke up as it re-entered [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] the Earth's atmosphere. A discussion of these possibilities can be found here [ http://bb.nightskyl…]. This year's Perseids meteor shower [ http://www.imo.net/…] was a good one, as it was particularly active and corresponded with the dark skies that come with a new moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
Explanation
What are they? Five streaks near the bottom of the above image taken near Ankara [ http://en.wikipedia…], Turkey [ http://en.wikipedia…] on Sunday would be identified at first glance as meteors from the Perseids meteor shower [ http://science.nasa…] peaking just that night. Unexpectedly, however, these streaks do not point back to the Perseids radiant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in Perseus [ http://chandra.harv…]. Their origin is therefore somewhat unclear. The above image was captured over the time span of 40 minutes. Other visible celestial icons include the constellation Orion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and the Pleiades star cluster [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. One hypothesis is that the streaks [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are part of a microburst from a much less active meteor shower known as the Alpha Ursae Majorids [ http://meteorshower…]. Another possibility is that they are parts of a satellite [ http://www.reentryn…] that broke up as it re-entered [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] the Earth's atmosphere. A discussion of these possibilities can be found here [ http://bb.nightskyl…]. This year's Perseids meteor shower [ http://www.imo.net/…] was a good one, as it was particularly active and corresponded with the dark skies that come with a new moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
