Meteor. Optical image of a Leonid meteor (lower centre) and star trails (curved tracks). Meteors, or shooting stars, are tiny particles of dust which

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Meteor. Optical image of a Leonid meteor (lower centre) and star trails (curved tracks). Meteors, or shooting stars, are tiny particles of dust which enter the Earth's atmosphere with speeds of 35-95 kilometres per second. Air resistance heats the particles, making them visible as streaks of light. Star trails are produced on long-exposure photographs by the apparent motion of the stars caused by the Earth's rotation. The Leonid meteor shower occurs annually for about 2 days around 17th November when the Earth crosses the path of debris produced by the Tempel-Tuttle (55P) comet.

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Size: 3523px × 3500px
Photo credit: © DAN SCHECHTER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2001, 55p, 80mm, amateur, america, american, annual, astronomy, california, comet, constellation, cosmology, debris, dust, falling, leo, leonid, leonids, meteor, meteors, night, november, periodic, shooting, shower, sky, star, stars, telescope, tempel-tuttle, trails, usa