Hurry, Make a Wish!

Have you ever wished upon a shooting star? Shooting stars are not actually stars at all, but are seen when small rocks from space, called meteoroids, smash through the Earth’s atmosphere. The rocks as they pass through the atmosphere cause a streak of light and become a meteor. This photographer was lucky enough to capture a meteor here in this image of Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. Easily visible meteors are often part of large showers that occur when Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet and appear in rapid succession in the night sky. These meteor showers happen at specific times of the year and last for predictable periods of time. Lone meteors, like the green streak in the upper center of this image, are random events that occur year round. Since it’s uncertain when or where lone meteors will occur, these brief events add a captivating sense of surprise to the night sky.

This photo was taken as part of the NOIRLab 2022 Photo Expedition to all the NOIRLab sites. Petr Horálek, the photographer, is a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.