Perseid Storm

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, 2010 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.