Mars and Meteor over Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

A brilliant yellowish celestial beacon, Mars still dazzles in the night. Peering between clouds the wandering planet was briefly joined by the flash of a meteor in this moonless dark sky on November 18. The single exposure was taken as the Earth swept up dust from periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle during the annual Leonid Meteor Shower . The view of a rugged western horizon looks along the Yulong mountain range in Yunnan province, southwestern China. Yulong ( Jade Dragon ) Snow Mountain lies below the clouds and beyond the end of the meteor streak.