Image © Josh Dury, shared with permission
One of the brightest and densest meteor showers of the year, the Perseids pour down every August, leaving glowing streaks in their wake. Photographer Josh Dury captured this year’s stellar spectacle near Stonehenge, showing the fireballs illuminating the sky above the prehistoric grounds in Wiltshire, England.
On August 9, Dury camped out at the ancient monument—which aligns the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the winter solstice—to capture 46 images he later stitched together into the stunning composite above. Between 50 and 100 meteors are typically visible per hour when the Perseids arrive, and the photographer spent about three hours on location.
With the brilliant Milky Way bisecting the frame, the resulting image is a striking tribute to celestial wonders past and present. “For me, the pertinent narrative of this ancient firework display, formed by some of the most ancient astronomical material of our solar system seemed a fitting tribute to the world-famous astronomical monument that is Stonehenge,” he told PetaPixel.
Prints of “Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge,” which was named the Astronomy Picture of the Day by NASA, are available on Dury’s website. Follow his work on Instagram.
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