Purple Haze Clouds Starry Night View in Stunning Photo

Purple Clouds at Sunrise Starry Night Sky
B.G. Boyd of Tucson, Ariz. sent SPACE.com this image on Aug. 23 of clouds turned purple by early-morning sunlight. Bright star Sirius and open star cluster, the Pleiades, are among the celestial objects in the image. (Image credit: B.G Boyd)

Purple clouds rise into a starry night sky in this beautiful image.

B.G Boyd captured this photo in early August around 5 a.m. while gazing up at the night sky over Tucson, Arizona to witness the annual Perseid meteor shower. Sunlight has turned the dark sky a deep purple as revealed by the clouds in the foreground. 

Sirius, the brightest star in Earth's night sky, is among the celestial objects visible in the image. Also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, stargazers can locate Sirius by using the three stars of Orion’s belt, which point downward toward the star.

Open star cluster, the Pleiades, appears in the shot as well. The cluster, also known as M45, comprises 800 stars formed about 100 million years ago. The celestial object is located in the constellation Taurus approximately 410 light-years away from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travel in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by SPACE.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

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Contributing Writer and Producer

Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.