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Credit & Copyright: Yousif Alqasimi &
Essa Al Jasmi
Explanation:
Sometimes even the sky surprises you.
To see more stars and faint nebulosity in the
Pleiades
star cluster
(M45),
long exposures are made.
Many times, less interesting items appear on the exposures that were not intended
-- but later edited out.
These include
stuck pixels,
cosmic ray hits, frames with
bright clouds or
Earth's Moon,
airplane trails,
lens flares,
faint satellite trails, and even
insect trails.
Sometimes, though, something
really interesting is caught by chance.
That was just the case a few weeks ago in
al-Ula,
Saudi Arabia
when a bright meteor streaked across during an
hour-long exposure of the
Pleiades.
Along with the
famous bright blue stars, less famous and less bright blue stars,
and
blue-reflecting dust surrounding the star cluster,
the
fast rock fragment created a distinctive green glow,
likely due to vaporized metals.
Jigsaw Universe:
Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: meteor - pleiades
Publications with words: meteor - pleiades
See also:
- APOD: 2025 August 6 Á Meteor before Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 July 23 Á Fireball over Cape San Blas
- APOD: 2025 July 8 Á The Pleiades in Red and Blue
- APOD: 2025 April 8 Á Moon Visits Sister Stars
- APOD: 2025 March 5 Á Seven Sisters versus California
- APOD: 2025 January 27 Á Pleiades over Half Dome
- APOD: 2024 December 9 Á Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster