Perseid meteors shine with the Milky Way over an ancient Egyptian temple in breathtaking photo

Photographer Osama Fathi has captured a stunning view of Perseid meteors crossing the bright ribbon of the Milky Way over the ruins of an ancient settlement in Egypt dedicated to the worship of the crocodile god Soknopaios.

The image was captured from the Soknopaiou Nesos archaeological site to the north of Qarun Lake in northeastern Egypt on the night of Aug. 12, as the 2025 Perseid meteor shower hit its peak. Sadly, the light of a waning gibbous moon washed out all but the brightest shooting stars this year, though photographers were still able to capture stunning compositions featuring the most brilliant members of the annual shower.

"Despite the presence of the moon this night, we managed to capture a few bright meteors of the Perseid shower above the ancient ruins of Soknopaiou Nesos, known today as Dimeh es-Seba, in the Faiyum Oasis of Egypt," said Fathi in an email to Space.com.

Fathi's image captures a swarm of bright Perseid meteors streaking across the dense dust lanes and glowing heart of the Milky Way, framed by the ancient stones and truncated columns of ancient Soknopaiou Nesos.

"This settlement, founded in the 3rd century BCE during the great Ptolemaic land reclamation of the Faiyum, was once a powerful religious center," continued Fathi. "It hosted a grand temple dedicated to Soknopaios, the oracular crocodile god with a falcon's head, from whom the town derived its name."

The scene is a composite of multiple images taken using a Nikon Z6 camera in conjunction with a Nikkor 14-24 mm wide-angle lens. The sky and Milky Way were captured over a 25 second exposure, while the meteors required a shorter exposure and high ISO of 8000.

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