Explanation:
Monstrously bright, this
fireball
meteor lit up the Mojave Desert sky
Monday morning, part of this year's impressive
Geminid
meteor shower.
Seen toward the southwest over rock formations near Victorville, California,
a more familiar celestial background was momentarily washed out by the
meteor's flash.
The background includes bright star
Sirius
at the left, and
Aldebaran
and the Pleaides star cluster at the right side of the image.
The meteor itself blazes through the
constellation Orion.
Its greenish trail begins just
left of a yellow-tinted
Betelgeuse
and
points back to the shower's radiant in Gemini, just off the top of the
frame.
A rewarding catch for photographer Wally Pacholka, the spectacular
image is one of over 1500 frames that he reports captured 48, mostly
faint, Geminid meteors.
digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091217.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';
