Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: In the clear, dark and moonless predawn hours of November 18, Greenbelt, Maryland's local baseball field was packed. The crowd stared skyward and occasionally conversed in hushed and reverent tones. "How many did you count?" a man asked. Some had long since lost track ... but others were keeping score, counting hundreds of Leonid meteors in a short hour's worth of skygazing. Farther to the west, in Big Bay, Illinois near the Kentucky border recreational astronomers also gathered to enjoy the celestial show. From that location, this single 3 minute time exposure made at 3:15 AM CST captured a dozen Leonid meteors leaving parallel trails. On that morning, along with many shooting stars streaming from the constellation Leo, the memorable sky also included the familar steady stars of Orion and bright planets Jupiter (seen above at the upper right) and Saturn.