A Shooting Star from Outer Space

Image Source © Ron Garan (13 August 2011) via Twitpic.

Astronomers and star gazers have been disappointed over the past few days about glimpsing the Perseids, since they were blocked by the full moon. You can still see them for the next few days in the northern skies, but the peak has passed. To make up for it, here is a photograph taken from the International Space Station by NASA astronaut Ron Garan three days ago, of a Perseid meteor as it entered Earth's atmosphere and became a shooting or falling star.