Explanation:
Storms on the distant horizon and comet dust raining through the
heavens above are combined in this alluring
nightscape.
The scene was recorded
in the early hours of August 13 from
the Keota Star Party site on the
Pawnee National Grasslands
of northeastern Colorado, USA.
Looking east across the prairie,
the
composite of 8 consecutive
exposures each 30 seconds long captures the flash of
lightning and a bright Perseid
meteor.
On the right, even the clouds can't block the light from brilliant
planet Jupiter, whose mythological
namesake
knew how to handle both lightning bolts and meteors.
Of course, this meteor's streak points back toward the
shower's radiant
in the heroic constellation Perseus,
sharing a starry background that includes the
Pleiades star
cluster poised above the storm clouds.
Just above the bright meteor lies the faint
Andromeda Galaxy.
