APOD: 2019 December 8 - Geminid Meteors over Chile

Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Geminid Meteors over Chilé." The Geminids are considered to be one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year, with the possibility of sighting around 120 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower owes its name to the constellation Gemini because the meteors seem to emerge from this constellation in the sky. In 2019, the peak will be the evening of December 14-15.

This image shows a four-hour exposure of the Geminids over Chilé in 2013. In the foreground the 2.5-meter du Pont and 1-meter SWOPE telescopes of the Las Campanas Observatory (mouse over the image to highlight them). The skies beyond the meteors are highlighted by Jupiter, (the bright spot near the image center), the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, seen vertically on the image left, and the pinkish Orion Nebula on the far left (Orion is upside down).