... The Spectrum of A Meteor . ... Chasing the brief flash of a meteor trail across the sky with a very large telescope is a nearly impossible task. But on May 12, 2002, astronomers got lucky, as a bright meteor chanced across the narrow slit of their spectrograph at the Paranal Observatory. A Perseid Meteor . ... In dark, moonless, predawn skies you may see dozens of meteors per hour. ... Connecting the Pipe Nebula to the bright star Antares is a flowing dark cloud nicknamed the Dark River. ...