Comet Captured Between Fireworks and Lightning

Taken by Perth photographer Antti Kemppainen during Australia Day in 2007, the above picture shows a visually interesting juxtaposition of exploding fireworks sharing a sky with with crackling lightning from a thunderstorm. However, captured between the two light displays is something more interesting than the disparate-in-color sky: A comet, specifically Comet McNaught, appearing as a small streak of light in the middle of the picture, closer to the fireworks, conveniently in a patch of clear sky. The image is actually a three-photograph panorama that is digitally processed to reduce the redness in the fireworks’ reflections.

(NASA via Vagabondish)

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James Plafke