A bright Perseid meteor was photographed over the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, appearing alongside the Milky Way and a prototype telescope.
Key facts
- •The meteor was observed over the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on August 15.
- •The LST-1 telescope features a 23-meter diameter mirror composed of 198 hexagonal segments.
- •The telescope is designed to detect atmospheric light flashes caused by gamma-rays.
- •The observed light flashes from gamma-rays typically last about a billionth of a second.
On August 15, a Perseid meteor streaked across the night sky above the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. The meteor's trail was captured in a photograph alongside the central Milky Way. In the foreground of the image stands the 23-meter diameter mirror of the LST-1, a prototype telescope.
By the numbers
The LST-1 Telescope
The LST-1 is the first telescope built at the northern hemisphere site of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory. It features 198 hexagonal mirror segments and a high-efficiency, pixelized camera. The telescope is designed to detect brief atmospheric light flashes, lasting approximately a billionth of a second, which are triggered by energetic gamma-rays from cosmic sources like distant active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. During the August 15 event, some of the telescope's mirror segments reflected the light of the Perseid meteor.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by NASA Breaking News.
