The Perseid meteor shower peaked on the night of August
12-13. So after the partial solar eclipse, a colleague and I went to the east
coast to photograph this. The meteor shower is created when the Earth passes
through a trail of space debris and particles left behind by comet
109P/Swift-Tuttle. When these particles (often no larger than a grain of
sand) fall into the Earth's atmosphere, they travel at about 59 kilometers per
second and burn up, creating the luminous streaks in the sky.
The picture shows 5 meteors over the Baltic Sea. In the
foreground is a close-up (macro) of detailed lichen in UV light (blue and
orange) and also a diving beetle (visible in yellow in UV)! Most species are
dark, oval and flat to reduce water resistance. Their hind legs act as
powerful, hair-covered oars that they use to move through the water. Because
they breathe air, they carry an oxygen bubble under their coverts when they
dive. This bubble acts as a kind of "physical gill" and is replenished
when the ram backs up to the surface, tail first.
