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A meteor streaks across the sky above the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Kitt Peak National Observatory in southern Arizona. (Image credit: KPNO\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/P. Hor\u00e1lek (Institute of Physics in Opava))<\/p>\n
Searing across the night sky, a meteor puts on a spectacular show above a powerful observatory.<\/p>\n
The meteor’s blaze was captured above the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO).<\/p>\n
What is it? <\/p>\n Petr Hor\u00e1lek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador, captured this photograph<\/a> of a meteor<\/a> soaring above the KPNO, which is located on Kitt Peak in the Quinlan Mountains in the Sonoran Desert. The observatory is in southern Arizona, on the land of the Tohono O’odham Nation. KPNO is also part of the NSF’s NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory).<\/p>\n In the image, you can see an observatory dome to the left of the bright meteor’s blaze. This is the dome of the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope, and to its right is the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope.<\/p>\n Above these scopes, the meteor is surrounded by quite an impressive view. The night sky in this image contains the constellations<\/a> Orion and Canis Major, and you can even see some interesting bright red structures in the sky. These are emission nebulae, or clouds of ionized gas that emit light.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/media\/img\/spc-logo-w.svg\"){kind=logo}
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