Pictures of rockets, meteors and the Milky Way are all amazing. But one with all three makes for an overwhelming image indeed.


This amazing picture shows the night sky over Doi Inthanon National Park in Thailand. Within it, you can see the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, hovering surreally. But there's more: just right of center, there's a lovely meteor streak, and just to the left of that a bright spot which is actually the rising Ariane 5 rocket, launched a few minutes before from Kourou,French Guiana.

Lucky coincidence? Nope: the image was timed to perfection to capture the rocket in flight. But the result was well worth the wait. [NASA]


Image by Matipon Tangmatitham