Meteors, Comet, and Big Dipper over La Palma.

Meteor showers are caused by streams of solid particles, dust size and larger, moving as a group through space. In most cases, the orbits of these meteor streams can be identified with dust expelled from a comet. When the Earth passes through a stream, the particles leave brilliant trails through the night sky as they disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere . The meteor paths are all parallel to each other, but, like train tracks , the effect of perspective causes them to appear to originate from a radiant point in the distance. The featured image composite was taken during January's Quadrantid meteor shower from La Palma , one of Spain 's Canary Islands , off the northwest coast of Africa . The Quadrantids radiant is visible just below the handle of the Big Dipper . A careful eye will also discern the faint green coma of Comet Wirtanen . Tonight is the peak of the modest Lyrid meteor shower , with several meteors per hour visible from dark locations with clear skies.