Copyright:
Ivo Scheggia
原文:
What’s happening to that meteor? A few days ago, a bright fireball was photographed from the Alps mountain range in Switzerland as it blazed across the sky. The fireball, likely from the Taurids meteor shower, was notable not only for how bright it was, but for the rare orange light it created that lingered for several minutes. Initially, the orange glow made it seem like the meteor trail was on fire. However, the orange glow, known as a persistent train, originated neither from fire nor sunlight-reflecting smoke. Rather, the persistent train’s glow emanated from atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere in the path of the meteor — atoms that had an electron knocked away and emit light during reacquisition. Persistent trains often drift, so that the long 3-minute exposure actually captured the initial wind-blown displacement of these bright former ions. The featured image was acquired when trying to image the famous Orion Nebula, visible on the upper left. The bright blue star Rigel, part of the constellation of Orion, is visible to the right. This week the fireball-rich Taurids meteor shower continues to be active even though it has passed its peak, while the more active Leonids meteor shower is just peaking. Follow APOD on: Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter
中文翻譯:
🌌 最近，阿爾卑斯山脈的攝影師捕捉到了一顆驚艷的明亮流星！這顆火球可能來自於金牛座流星雨，除了其耀眼的亮度外，還引人注意的是它所散發的稀有橙色光輝，並持續了幾分鐘。起初，這種橙色光線讓人以為流星的尾跡在燃燒。
然而，這種被稱為「持久尾跡」（persistent train）的光線，並不是來自火焰或反射的陽光煙霧。其實，它的光芒來源於地球大氣中的原子，這些原子因流星的撞擊而失去了一個電子，重新獲得電子後才會發出光。持久尾跡常常會隨風漂移，因此這張長達3分鐘的曝光照片實際上捕捉到了這些明亮的前離子在風吹動下的位移。
這張照片是在試圖成像著名的獵戶星雲時拍攝的，獵戶星雲位於左上方，而藍色的巨星Rigel則在右側可見。這一週，火球頻繁的金牛座流星雨持續活躍，儘管已過峰值，而更活躍的獵鷹座流星雨剛好達到巔峰。
🌠 #金牛座流星雨 #流星 #阿爾卑斯山 #持久尾跡 #獵戶星雲 #火球 #星空攝影 #天文現象 #Rigel #星空探險 #APOD #大自然奇觀
來源:NASA每日圖片
