The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
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.