This is a single exposure of the Orion area of the sky for 60 seconds (or maybe 120 seconds). I was taking a series of exposures for a star trail image. I had my camera pointed at the right part of the sky, and exposing at the right time, to catch this one. It lit up the whole area and ruined most people's dark adaptation for a little while!
Meteors are tiny grains of sand that burn up as they pass through Earth's atmosphere. This one was a fireball - a brighter-than-usual meteor. The International Astronomical Union defines a fireball as "a meteor brighter than any of the planets" (magnitude -4 or greater).
The particle that burns up to produce a fireball is typically larger than a grain of sand; perhaps the size of a small pebble. Usually not much is left to fall to the ground, but sometimes a meteorite can be found after a large meteor or fireball was seen in the sky.
