A Colorful Quadrantid Meteor.

Meteors can be colorful. While the human eye usually cannot discern many colors, cameras often can. Pictured is a Quadrantids meteor captured by camera over Missouri , USA , early this month that was not only impressively bright, but colorful. The radiant grit , likely cast off by asteroid 2003 EH1 , blazed a path across Earth's atmosphere . Colors in meteors usually originate from ionized elements released as the meteor disintegrates, with blue-green typically originating from magnesium , calcium radiating violet, and nickel glowing green. Red, however, typically originates from energized nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. This bright meteor ic fireball was gone in a flash -- less than a second -- but it left a wind-blown ionization trail that remained visible for several minutes.

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