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Back around the year of 2016 something spectacular lit up the sky in India but not many got the chance to see it. The emerald meteor that burned ever so brightly was gone quickly and leaving those who did see it wondering if their minds were playing tricks on them, I am sure.

However, thankfully one specific photographer was in the right place at the right time that night. His name is Prasenjeet Yadav, and he just so happened to set up his camera to take a timelapse of the sky when this emerald shooting star came into play. While he was sleeping, his camera had picked up something mesmerizing and mind-blowing. 

This image was so great that it made it into the running for National Geographic’s nature photographer of the year competition for 2016. According to The Metro, Yadav was so stunned by the image he was able to catch even he questioned its validity at first. He thought perhaps somehow it was a fluke of sorts. However, it was very real and quite valid.

This great shot was one out of about 999 shots that he ended up taking that night on his timelapse. While he never expected for a random camping trip to bring forth something like this, Yadav truly did capture something you could consider as being ‘once-in-a-lifetime.’ I for one would never be so lucky as you can see below, it was quite the sight.

(Picture: Prasenjeet Yadav/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year)

Yadav told The Metro as follows about his capturing this photograph several years ago:

“Anand Varma was visiting me and I was showing him around a mountain range in South India called the Western Ghats.”

“We camped on the side of a road and I set up my Nikon D600 and a 24-70mm lens to take 15-second exposures. I set the camera to take 999 images.”

“I slept next to the camera and it continued taking pictures until dawn. It wasn’t until the next afternoon that I reviewed my images and noticed something unusually bright and green. I showed it to Anand, and we realized that I had captured an extremely rare event.”

“After checking with a few experts, I learned that it was a green meteorite, and getting it on camera is very rare.”

“This is an example of being at the right place at the right time to capture something totally unexpected.”

“For those 15 seconds, I was the luckiest photographer on the planet.”

What do you think about this amazing photograph? I for one am quite blown away. It is something that we will keep admiring even years into the future.