From a radiant point in the
constellation of the Twins, the annual Geminid meteor shower rained down on
planet Earth over the past few weeks. Recorded near the shower's peak over the
night of December 13 and 14, the above skyscape captures Gemini's shooting
stars in a four-hour composite from the dark skies of the Las Campanas
Observatory in Chile. In the foreground the 2.5-meter du Pont Telescope is
visible as well as the 1-meter SWOPE telescope. The skies beyond the meteors
are highlighted by Jupiter, seen as the bright spot near the image center, the
central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, seen vertically on the image left, and
the pinkish Orion Nebula on the far left. Dust swept up from the orbit of
active asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere traveling
at about 22 kilometers per second
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