A happy accident: photobombed by a meteor

Yurui Gong and Xizhen Ruan were photographing the Andromeda Galaxy when a special photobomb transformed the image into a once-in-a-lifetime capture.

After setting up the camera to gather data overnight, they returned in the morning to see they’d caught a Perseid 'fireball' meteor burning up in the atmosphere in a streak of colours. 

Titled Encounter Across Light Years, the photo was crowned the winner of the Best Newcomer category of ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025. 

Take a closer look at this incredible photo.

The original target: the Andromeda Galaxy

Yurui Gong and Xizhen Ruan originally set out to capture one of the most photographed targets in the night sky: M31, also known as the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s the nearest large galaxy to us at around 2.5 million light years away.

Andromeda is a barred spiral galaxy, like our own Milky Way. It’s made up of a spiral structure of dust, gas and stars, which are connected by a dense, bar-shaped concentration of bright giant stars in the core.

The photographers pointed their equipment at Andromeda and, safe in the knowledge their camera was collecting data overnight, went to sleep. 

Andromeda is a naturally striking sight. However, the photographers got more than they bargained for when they checked the camera the next day and saw they’d also caught a meteor burning up in the atmosphere.

A colourful fireball

The meteor they captured was from the Perseid meteor shower, a period of intense meteor activity that occurs annually between mid-July and late August.

Meteor hunters look forward to this shower every year because of the high hourly meteor rate at the peak, with up to 150 meteors per hour visible in some years.

What’s more, this shower is a little more comfortable to watch than others, taking place when the weather is usually mild outdoors overnight.

In Encounter Across Light Years, Yurui Gong and Xizhen Ruan not only caught a Perseid meteor, but they managed to capture a particularly special one called a ‘fireball’.

Fireballs are very bright and dazzling meteors. Because they burn for longer than normal meteors, they are more likely to display a range of colours.

The colours are emitted by different elements in the meteor as they reach extreme temperatures. For example, magnesium burns a bluish or green colour, nitrogen and oxygen burn red, and iron produces a yellow hue.

Visit ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 

Come and see this image and more than 100 other incredible astronomy photographs in the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, open until 3 August 2026.