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First glimpses from the Perseid meteor shower

13 August 2007

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This image of the Perseid meteor shower was obtained in the night between 12 and 13 August 2007, when this recurrent summer phenomenon reached its intensity peak. The image was taken by ESA’s SPOSH camera during a 30-minute time frame, with 2-second exposures.

Stars appear as describing arcs around the pole star. The pole star itself shows up as a point, as it is almost stationary during the exposure time. The meteors are visible as streaks crossing the path of the stars.

Credits: ESA

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The Smart Panoramic Optical Sensor Head (SPOSH) camera imaging the night sky between 12 and 13 August 2007 (when the Perseid metor shower reached its peak), at the Kanzelhöhe Observatory in Austria.

The (SPOSH) camera, a highly sensitive instrument whose performance was tested during the Perseid observation campaign, is built for future use as a night-side imager of planets. It could also be used to observe meteors from space.

SPOSH was developed by Jena-Optronics and DLR under ESA contract.

Credits: ESA

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