Lakeside Meteor
The annual Orionid meteor shower peaked in activity in the early morning hours of October 22, as tiny remnants shed from Halley's comet plummeted through Earth's atmosphere. From dark locations, up to two dozen shooting stars an hour were visible during the peak.
Jeffrey Berkes of West Chester, Pennsylvania, managed to frame an Orionid streaking above a country lake, keeping the glare from a waning crescent moon in check behind autumn foliage.
"The moon beginning its ascent around 2:15 a.m. worried me a little bit, but the Orionids were streaking bright, and I counted a couple dozen during the night," Berkes wrote in his caption for the shot, submitted October 24 to National Geographic's My Shot website.
"I also saw 3 random meteors. Two of them were borderline fireballs!"
—Andrew Fazekas
New Meteor Pictures: Orionids Light Up Aurora and More
See shots of the falling pieces of Halley's comet that streaked through starry skies, and even auroras, in late October.
