November 22, 2001
The Moon has changed phase thousands of times since the beginning of the cosmos, but only once did it shine on the night you arrived.
Fireball, Smoke Trail, Meteor Storm
Birthday · November 22, 2001
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published November 22, 2001. Credit: Jerry Lodriguss. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Returning from orbit, space shuttles enter the atmosphere at about 8 kilometers per second as friction heats their protective ceramic tiles to over 1,400 degrees Celsius. By contrast, the bits of comet dust which became the Leonid meteors seen on November 18, were moving at 70 kilometers per second, completely vaporizing at altitudes of around 100 kilometers. In this single 5 minute time exposure, three Leonid meteors are shooting through skies above Spruce Knob, West Virginia, USA. Background stars are near the constellation Orion. The brightest meteor, a fireball, dramatically changes colors along its path and leaves a smokey persistant trail drifting in high-altitude winds. From that extremely dark site, at an elevation of 1,200 meters, astrophotographer Jerry Lodriguss reports, "We observed a [zenithal hourly rate] of about 3,600 at 10:30 UT and very high rates from 9:30 UT until well into the start of astronomical twilight at 10:50 UT. It was quite a spectacular storm, with bolides going off like flashbulbs, green and red fireballs and other fainter Leonids in all parts of the sky."
Image credit: Jerry Lodriguss