                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 July 14
    A distant spiral galaxy is seen in the image center. A multi-colored
     streak runs diagonally across the image from the upper left to the
    lower right. Parts of this streak have gas near it. The background is
      dark field filled with stars. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                            Meteor Misses Galaxy
                      Credit & Copyright: Aman Chokshi

   Explanation: The galaxy was never in danger. For one thing, the
   Triangulum galaxy (M33), pictured, is much bigger than the tiny grain
   of rock at the head of the meteor. For another, the galaxy is much
   farther away -- in this instance 3 million light years as opposed to
   only about 0.0003 light seconds. Even so, the meteor's path took it
   angularly below the galaxy. Also the wind high in Earth's atmosphere
   blew the meteor's glowing evaporative molecule train away from the
   galaxy, in angular projection. Still, the astrophotographer was quite
   lucky to capture both a meteor and a galaxy in a single exposure --
   which was subsequently added to two other images of M33 to bring up the
   spiral galaxy's colors. At the end, the meteor was gone in a second,
   but the galaxy will last billions of years.

     Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
                                 (post 1995)
                     Tomorrow's picture: galaxy unwound
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

