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Birthday · November 26, 1998

Meteor Milky Way

November 26, 1998

Your birthday is not just a date on a calendar. It is the yearly return of a moment when the universe became more observant, more feeling,...

Meteor Milky Way

A little universe, just for you

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APOD published November 26, 1998. Credit: Jeff Medkeff. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the image

Meteor Milky Way

Original APOD · November 26, 1998

The bold, bright star patterns of Orion (right) are a familiar sight to even casual skygazers. But this gorgeous color photo also features a subtler spectacle - the faint stars of the Milky Way. A broad region of the Milky Way runs vertically through the picture with the striking red Rosette Nebula in bloom left of center. Cutting across this dim, diffuse band of stars which lie along the plane of our Galaxy is a meteor streak. It seems to pass just under the red-orange giant star Betelgeuse at Orion's shoulder. Astrophotographer Jeff Medkeff recorded this and other beautiful time exposures from a dark sky countryside southeast of Sierra Vista, Arizona USA, during November's Leonid meteor shower.

Image credit: Jeff Medkeff

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