Boeing 747 captain Christiaan van Heijst has taken a stunning photo of meteors from the Perseids meteor shower over Turkey.
Boeing 747 captain Christiaan van Heijst takes up the story.
"The night is still relatively short at this time of the year, a perpetual glow of a hesitating sunset moving across the northern horizon.
"But even in those few hours of darkness, the night can be mesmerizing.
"This shot was taken in the early hours of August 11, at the peak of the yearly Perseids meteor shower that decorates the nocturnal sky with little sprinkles of wonder and wishes.
"As our planet orbits the Sun, it passes through a cloud of debris that comet Swift-Tuttle left in her wake, centuries ago.
"Every year, thousands of those dust particles tend to graze Earth's atmosphere, firing up one last time before their five-billion-year life comes to a spectacular end.
"While thousands of lights from villages and cities float by below, the constellations are as steady as ever. The three familiar stars of Orion's Belt are straight ahead and a clear glow of illuminated interstellar dust gleams from across the horizon: the Zodiacal Light. Beautiful.From dusk till dawn, onwards to new adventures.
"Five more hours to go, let's see if there is still some coffee left."
Below Christiaan has detailed the photograph.
Christiaan is one of the world’s leading aviation photographers and more of his work and close encounter (s) can be found here.
You can follow Christiaan on Instagram here: @jpcvanheijst
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