November 20, 2009
Somewhere between the hydrogen and the starlight, between the gravity and the grace, the universe conspired to bring you into being.
Meteor between the Clouds
Birthday · November 20, 2009
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APOD published November 20, 2009. Credit: Victor van Wulfen. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This bright meteor streaked through dark night skies over Sutherland, South Africa on November 15. Potentially part of the annual Leonid meteor shower, its sudden, brilliant appearance, likened to a camera's flash, was captured by chance as it passed between two clouds. Of course, the two clouds are also visible to the eye in dark southern skies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way. This year's Leonid meteor shower peaked on November 17 as the Earth passed through the stream of dust from periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle.
Image credit: Victor van Wulfen