Radiant (meteor shower) Radiant (meteor shower) The radiant or apparent radiant of a meteor shower is the celestial point in the sky from which (from the point of view of a terrestrial observer) the paths of meteors appear to originate. The Perseids, for example, are meteors which appear to come from a point within the constellation of Perseus. Meteor paths appear at random locations in the sky, but the apparent paths of two or more meteors from the same shower will converge at the radiant. The radiant is the vanishing point of the meteor paths, which are parallel lines in three-dimensional space, as
Skew lines value of the real number formula_4 determining where the point is on the line, and similarly for arbitrary point on the line through particular point in direction . The cross product of b and d is perpendicular to the lines, as is the unit vector The distance between the lines is then (if |b × d| is zero the lines are parallel and this method cannot be used). Expressing the two lines as vectors: Line 1: formula_7 Line 2: formula_8 The cross product of formula_9 and formula_10 is perpendicular to the lines. formula_11 The plane formed by the translations of