Monument Valley Falling Star

As seen on National Geographic News on the night of Geminid meteor shower in mid-December, TWAN photographer found starry skies after a snow storm in the Monument Valley, a well-known site in the border of Arizona and Utah in USA. This picturesque foreground of famous buttes is Familiar as the backdrop for many American western movies. The buttes are composed of hard rock left behind after water has eroded away the surrounding soft rock. The meteor in this evening view appears in the southern constellation Puppis. Star cluster M46 and M47 in the winter Milky Way are visible above the meteor, while on the top right of the image, the bright object M44, known as Beehive star cluster, is captured in constellation Cancer. Bright star Regulus in Leo is rising rise on the lower left.