Meteors and the Milky Way

A dark summer night in rural LaPorte County, Indiana presented a great opportunity to view the Milky Way Galaxy.  The crescent moon hadn't risen yet, so the sky was very dark - except for the light pollution from big cities many miles away.

While gazing up at the stars, we noticed a meteor or two traverse across the sky, so I was hoping my camera captured one or two.  I used exposures from 10 seconds to 20 seconds, and in the photo above, found four meteors, one very difficult to see unless zoomed in.



At first, I thought the light streaking at the bottom left was an airplane, but in a 20 second exposure, the light would have appeared like a zipper, with dots every second as the plane's lights flashed.

I remember staring up at the sky on a warm summer night as a high school kid, in a rowboat in the middle of a small lake, and viewing the Milky Way. Shading my eyes from the lights on the shore, and letting them adjust to the darkness.  It seemed the longer I looked up, the more stars I saw. I was able to experience that same feeling again last night.