I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
- Jack London
These images capture a bright Perseid meteor photographed on August 11, 2013, one night before the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Perseids are known for their fast velocities and bluish-white color, caused by their high entry speed and ionization of atmospheric gases.
This meteor streaked across the constellation Cygnus, leaving a sharp, luminous trail characteristic of Perseid meteors originating from comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle. The photograph was taken from New York under summer night skies using a long exposure to maximize the chance of capturing a meteor.
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon EF 16–35mm f/2.8L II USM
Exposure: 2 minutes
ISO: 1600
Mount: Tripod
Date: August 11, 2013
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Perseid meteor shower: This bright meteor across the Cygnus constellation
August 11 2013 - one night
before maximum. Canon 40D Ultra Wide Angle Canon Lens EF 16 35mm f2.8L
II U, 2min, ISO 1600, Tripode, NY Astrophotography |
The second image below is a cropped and zoomed-in view of the same meteor, revealing its sharp core and subtle color variations. The bluish-white hue is a classic Perseid signature, produced by the meteor’s extreme atmospheric entry speed of roughly 55–65 km/s as it vaporizes in Earth’s atmosphere.
In the zoomed image, the meteor trail clearly shows a classic Perseid structure: it begins as a thin, faint streak, rapidly swells into a thicker and brighter central section, and then tapers off again as the meteoroid fragments and fully ablates in the upper atmosphere. This changing width and brightness reflect variations in velocity, mass loss, and ionization along the meteor’s path.
Because this image was captured as a 2-minute long exposure, the stars do not appear as points but as short arcs, reflecting Earth’s rotation. Despite this, the Cassiopeia constellation is still identifiable in the lower-left corner of the first (wide-field) image, although it falls outside the frame in the zoomed view.
Using Cassiopeia as a reference and comparing the field orientation with a Stellarium sky map, the meteor’s trajectory can be traced back toward the Perseids radiant, which lies just outside the image frame. This confirms the meteor’s direction of motion from lower-left toward upper-right, consistent with a Perseid origin.
Notably, the meteor’s structure also supports this identification: the section closer to the radiant (the beginning of the trail) appears longer and fainter, while the terminal portion farther from the radiant is shorter, brighter, and sharper. This asymmetry reflects the rapid increase in ablation and brightness as the meteoroid penetrates deeper into the atmosphere.
The longer, fainter beginning of the meteor trail can be explained by a combination of perspective effects and atmospheric physics. Near the Perseids radiant, the meteor’s motion is largely along the line of sight, producing a foreshortened, slow-appearing streak. At these very high altitudes, the atmosphere is extremely thin, resulting in faint emission that can extend over a comparatively long visible path.
As the meteoroid penetrates deeper into the denser mesosphere, ablation increases rapidly, producing the bright, thick central section of the trail. Once the particle is fully consumed, the light drops off abruptly, creating a short, sharp terminal end rather than a gradual fade.
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| Perseid meteor shower: This bright meteor August 11 2013, Canon 40D Ultra Wide Angle Canon Lens EF 16 35mm f2.8L
II U, Astrophotography |
Together, the meteor’s color, direction, brightness profile, and changing trail structure all point to a classic Perseid meteor captured under summer skies just before peak activity. Even in a single long exposure, careful analysis reveals both the geometry of the radiant and the physical processes governing meteoroid ablation high above Earth.
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