November 18, 2006
Every year, the Earth returns to the same point in its orbit where it was when you were born.
Leonids and Leica
Birthday · November 18, 2006
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APOD published November 18, 2006. Credit: Juan Carlos Casado and Isabel Graboleda. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This lovely view from northern Spain at Cape Creus on the easternmost point of the Iberian peninsula, looks out across the Mediteranean and up into the stream of the 2002 Leonid meteor shower. The picture is a composite of thirty separate one minute exposures taken through a fisheye lens. Over 70 leonid meteors are visible, some seen nearly head on. Bright Jupiter is positioned just to the right of the shower's radiant in Leo. Perched on the moonlit rocks at the bottom right, Leica, the photographers' dog, seems to be watching the on going celestial display and adds a surreal visual element to the scene. The 2006 Leonid meteor shower will be much less intense than in 2002, but will be near its predicted peak this weekend. Sky watchers will have their best view under dark skies in early morning hours with Leo rising above the eastern horizon.
Image credit: Juan Carlos Casado and Isabel Graboleda