Photography is the art and science of capturing the light using a camera, whether it is a digital sensor or film, to create an image. Photographers can capture images of almost anything using the right camera, such as wavelengths of the light invisible to the human's naked eye, including the UV rays, infrared, and radio.

It was Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in France who captured the first permanent photograph in 1826. It shows the roof of a building lit by the sun, entitled "View from the Window at Le Gras."

But that was centuries ago; humans have come a long way since then.

Once-in-a-lifetime event

Since the first photo captured in 1826, humans become so advance in the field of photography with all the high-tech cameras available, allowing humanity to capture events that were never dreamed of before. Things like the celestial bodies are easily taken a photo now using the right cameras.

Eventually, people have started loving taking photos of almost everything around them. Some of the photographs they take are planned, and some are not, such as capturing stars.

The picture-perfect photo of a meteor is one of the most famous shots by photographer Parasenjeet Yadav, but perhaps it is also his luckiest, as he was able to capture it while he was asleep.

Yadav was originally a molecular ecologist, having earned a master's degree in molecular biology and conducting research for many years now in India. But he then realized that his true passion was in storytelling.

He took a camera and became a photographer and National Geographic Explorer to help promote ecological and conservation sciences.

It was in October 2015, after winning a National Geographic Young Explorers grant, that he drove into the mountains near a small south Indian town of Mettupalayam. There, he took a time-lapse project to show the process of urbanization by setting his Nikon D600 within an intervalometer to capture a 15-second exposure every 10 seconds.

Before going to sleep, he set-up his camera first, and when he woke up, he found that his camera has shot 999 photos captured throughout the night. But what's surprising is the photo he captured among the 999 pictures he was reviewing.

There, the camera was able to spot a bright green fireball streaking down the sky and illuminating the sky. "I was there, and that's what photography is all about-being there in the right place at the right time," Yadav told Wired in 2017.

Yadav said that his shot of the green meteor was one of the most memorable shots he has ever taken and also the first image that the National Geographic published back in 2016. "The green meteor's color comes from a combination of the heating of oxygen around the meteor, and a mixture of minerals ignited as it enters the Earth's atmosphere," according to Yadav.

Lyrid meteor shower of 2020

NASA had captured some "shooting stars" with cameras across the United States when the Lyrid meteor shower of 2020 was its best last week. They were able to do that thanks to the All-sky Fireball Network in the wee hours of the morning.

They released a video showing Lyrid meteors as they lit up the predawn sky at different sites across the country.

This spectacular event occurs every year in April when the Earth passes through debris left by Comet thatcher or officially known as C/1861 g1 Thatcher which dated back 2,700 years, making it the oldest meteor displays, according to NASA