Heading to the Stars

As seen on the National Geographic News a dim meteor flashes above a monument to 19th-century U.S. settlers in a picture taken near Council Grove, Kansas. Click on the second photo to see a closer view of this scene earlier in the evening. From the photographer: “The state motto of Kansas is Ad astra per aspera, Latin for “to the stars through difficulties. This artwork of a covered wagon led by a horse-mounted rider seemingly heading toward the Milky Way captures this notion well.”