What are the odds?! This amazing image is from Emma Zulaiha Zulkifli in Sabah, on the island of Borneo in Malaysia. She caught a bright meteor streaking right in front of the bright planet Venus on December 15, 2018. She wrote: “Yes, the meteor actually did streak in front of Venus! Only a bit of tweaking on contrast and noise reduction done in Photoshop CC2018.” Fuji X-A1, 18-55mm f2.8 with Tripod, Exif : iso2000, 30″, f2.8. Way to go, Emma!Greg Hogan captured a meteor – and comet 46P/Wirtanen – on December 15, 2018. “Lucky shot!,” he said.Aaron Robinson caught this Geminid meteor on December 14, 2018, at 1:30 a.m. MST in Ririe, Idaho. Thanks, Aaron!The Geminid meteor shower rains down on Death Valley, as seen from Zabriskie Point. Comet Wirtanen is visible in the upper left, below and to the left of Pleiades. Rick Whitacre captured the images to create this composite from 11:41 p.m. to 2:45 a.m. – when clouds rolled in – on the night of the shower’s 2018 peak. He stacked 27 exposures with meteors onto a stack of 42 exposures for a clean foreground, using Starry Landscape Stacker. Sony A7S, Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, 14mm, f/2.8, 20 seconds, ISO12,800.Prabhakaran A in Sharjah, UAE, captured this image on December 14, 2018. He wrote, “See Castor and Pollux to the top left where there is a bright short meteor. I witnessed 200+ meteors, most of them very faint, however I was able to capture only few bright ones within the frame.”On December 12, Joel Coombs caught a meteor, and also comet 46P/Wirtanen. Look for the comet in the upper left quadrant of the photo. It’s a greenish dot above and to the left of the upper end of the meteor. See it?John Michnowicz collected images for 4 hours on the night of the Geminids’ peak, starting at 10:30 p.m. on December 13, 2018. He collected ~1000 images and later combined the 21 images that had meteors using Photoshop. Sony a7III, Rokinon 14mm, 2.8f, 13 sec exposure, ISO 1600. Thank you, John!Mike Lewinski wrote: “I captured Venus and a meteor at 5:18 a.m. MST today, December 13, 2018, in Tres Piedras, New Mexico.”Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, said he saw and/or photographed more than 100 meteors from about 2:30 a.m. to about 5 a.m. on the Geminid’s peak morning, December 14, 2018. He wrote: “This is the best of the night, a fireball at 4:47 a.m. Note Venus to the meteor’s right as a brightness comparison.” Thanks, Eliot!Gilbert Vancell Nature Photography wrote: “Comet 46P/Wirtanen is the bluish dot on the left. The cluster of stars close to it are the Pleiades. Geminid meteor shower peaked this morning, but should keep up amazing us Earthlings through the weekend. Best to view early morning after moonset.”View larger. | Geminid meteor on December 13, 2018, above comet 46P/Wirtanen, which is just visible behind a thin cloud layer. Both comet and meteor lie between the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters. Photo by Gary Marshall in Runcorn, England. Thank you, Gary!Meteors are best seen in a dark country sky. But sometimes you catch one from a lighted area, too! “Geminid over my neighborhood,” wrote Brotoiu Radu in Breaza, PH, Romania. He caught this meteor around 3 a.m. on the peak morning of the shower, December 14. Canon 5D, Samyang 14mm, F2.8, ISO 3200, 20 sec. Thank you, Brotoiu!John Niehay captured this bright green Geminid on Dec. 12, 2018, from Decatur, Illinois. Thanks, John!Nima Asadzadeh caught this photo of an exceedingly bright Venus with Geminid meteors from a location in the Maranjab Desert, Iran. Canon 6D Non-Modified Lens Canon 50mm f/1.4, Shutter Speed: 10 seconds, ISO Speed: 4000, Aperture: f/2.8. Composite of 23 frames, stacked on Adobe PS and processed at Adobe Camera RAW. Thank you, Nima!
Bottom line: Photos of Geminid meteors by members of the EarthSky community.
Our Editor-in-Chief Deborah Byrd works to keep all the astronomy balls in the air between EarthSky's website, YouTube page and social media platforms. She's the primary editor of our popular daily newsletter and a frequent host of EarthSky livestreams. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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