Explanation:
A cosmic grain of sand
left the long and colorful trail across
this
all-sky view.
Its grazing impact with planet Earth's atmosphere began at
71 kilometers per second.
With the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon,
the scene was captured on the night of November 17
from the
astronomically popular high plateau at
Champ du Feu in Alsace, France.
Of course, the
earthgrazer
meteor belongs to this month's
Leonid
meteor shower,
produced
as our fair planet annually sweeps
through dust from the tail of periodic Comet
Tempel-Tuttle.
The shower's radiant point
in the constellation Leo
is very close to the eastern horizon, near the start of the
trail at the lower left.
Bright planet Jupiter is also easy to spot, immersed in
a faint band of Zodiacal
light just below and right of center.
The image is part of a dramatic time-lapse video
(vimeo here)
that began only 7 minutes before the long leonid crossed the sky.
