Incredible Sky Show: Geminid Meteor Shower Images from Around the World

By Nancy Atkinson - December 14, 2012 at 7:39 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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Geminids at Gates Pass. Composite image from 30 frames of video. Credit:

The 2012 Geminid Meteor Shower has lived up to expectations, and here are some images and videos provided by people around the world.

"What an incredible show we had here!" said Sean Parker in Tucson, Arizona, USA. "I was able to see about 50 per hour."

The images were shot at Gates Pass in Tucson, Arizona on the morning of 12-13-12. You can see M31 (Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million light years away) at the left next to the Milky way.

More below, and you can click on most of these images to see larger versions in Flickr or Twitter.

Geminid Fireball. A large Geminid burns up in the atmosphere above the iconic Flatirons of Boulder, CO. Credit:

And another by Patrick:

Geminid Meteor Shower above the Flatirons, Boulder, CO. Credit:

Raining Down on Roseberry Topping (Geminid Meteor Shower 2012).Credit:

Peter says: "This is the only meteor I caught whilst on a Geminid meteor hunting trip ...at Captain Cooks Monument, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, UK."

Geminid Meteor Over Death Valley. Credit: Gavin Heffernan/

Meteors in Malta. Credit: Leonard Ellul-Mercer

Leonard shares: "Last night the sky was totally overcast in Malta and this was very depressing as I was looking forward to this meteor shower. At around midnight I decided to retire, However, before doing so I went on the roof and noted some very small breaks in the cloud, but in a matter of 10 minutes I noted 6 bright meteors in these small gaps. So I presumed that there was a good meteor shower going on beyond those clouds. After about 30 mins. the cloud break increased and the show started off. It was a great meteor shower with bright meteors appearing every one or two minutes."

Here's a compilation of various views from a news station in Modesto, California. Some shots are obviously from a fish-eye camera:

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com