Photographer Captures Meteor, Aurora and Big Dipper in 1 Amazing Photo

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Orionid Meteor, Aurora, Big Dipper by Ashley
Astrophotographer John Ashley took this image from Livingston Mountain Range in Glacier National Park on Oct. 20, 2014. (Image credit: John Ashley)

The stunning green glow in this image comes from an aurora at Glacier National Park in Montana.

Astrophotographer John Ashley took this image from Livingston Mountain Range in Glacier National Park on Oct. 20. The image also includes an Orionid meteor shining through cloud cover. The Orionids occur every October and are caused by leftover dust from Halley's Comet streaking through Earth's atmosphere.

"I only saw about a dozen meteors before clouds blotted out the sky at 1:30 AM, but four were bright and one meteor left a brief smoke trail," Ashley wrote in an email to Space.com. [Amazing Auroras of 2014 (Photos)]

Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun get caught in our planets magnetic field and pulled down near one of our poles. The variety of color is the result of different electromagnetic reactions with oxygen and nitrogen.

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.

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

Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect a correction. The image was taken in Glacier National Park in Montana, not Alaska, as originally stated.

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Nina Sen
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.