Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini
AI Summary2 min read
TL;DR
A composite image shows Jupiter as the brightest object, with Geminid meteors appearing to radiate from it. The actual radiant is near star Castor in Gemini, but the meteors' parent asteroid is influenced by Jupiter's gravity.
Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini
Image Credit & Copyright: David Cruz
Explanation: Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant, is the brightest celestial beacon at the center of this composite night skyscape. The scene was constructed by selecting the 40 exposures containing meteors from about 500 exposures made on the nights of December 13 and 14, near peak activity for this year's annual Geminid meteor shower. With each selected exposure registered in the night sky above Alentejo, Portugal, planet Earth, it does look like the meteors are streaming away from Jupiter. But the apparent radiant of the Geminid meteors is actually closer to bright star Castor, in the shower's eponymous constellation Gemini. In this frame that's just a little above and left of the Solar System's most massive planet. Still, the parent body of Geminid meteors is known to be rocky, near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon. And the orbit of Phaethon itself is influenced by the gravitational attraction exerted by massive Jupiter, in concert with planets of the inner Solar System.