Wow! Dazzling Meteor Streaks Over Maine Lighthouse in Spectacular Photo

Meteor, Milky Way and Venus over Lighthouse by Mike Taylor
Astrophotographer Mike Taylor sent Space.com this image of the Milky Way galaxy, planet Venus and a meteor burning up in the atmosphere over the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine on March 4, 2014. The photo is one frame taken from a 2 ½-hour time lapse. (Image credit: © Mike Taylor - Taylor Photography )

A blazing meteor disintegrates across a glittering night sky with planet Venus and the Milky Way galaxy beaming brightly over a lighthouse in Maine in this stunning image recently sent to Space.com.

Astrophotographer Mike Taylor took this great shot, which is one frame from a 2.5-hour time-lapse captured on March 4 at the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine.

"A meteor burns up in the atmosphere with a nice green tail next to the tower, making a triangle in the sky, which includes Venus and the core of the Milky Way," Taylor told Space.com in an email. [More amazing March night sky photos by amateurs]

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Taylor used a Nikon D600 camera and 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/3.2 – 30 seconds – ISO 3200 – WB Kelvin 3570; to capture the image. The image was processed through Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS5.

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy comprising roughly 400 billion stars and stretching between 100,000 and 120,000 light-years in diameter. A massive black hole — billions of times the size of the sun — lies at the center of the galaxy. A light-year is the distance light travels 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 or video that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please send images and comments to 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.