It's not a meteorite until it hits us.

This year's November 18 Leonid meteor shower had to cope with bright moonlight but even that didn't stop the photo of this brilliant meteor fireball. Leonid meteors fall at this time every year as the Earth passes through the particles of dust of the Tempel-Tuttle comet.

The image was taken by Juergen Rendtel in the western skies over the Canary Island Observatorio on Tenerife. The smaller insets show the smoke trail of the meteor.

Leonid meteors usually enter the atmosphere at nearly 70 kilometres per second. In the frame are the stars of the constellations Orion and Taurus and that very bright Moon.