Astrophotos: Views of the Geminid Meteor Shower from Around the World
It’s nice to know that not everyone around the world was plagued by clouds, dense fog, driving rain and snowstorms like we had in Minnesota during this year’s Geminid Meteor Shower (and all that weather was within one 24-hour period!) In fact, some astrophotographers were able to capture some stunning views of the Geminids, like this absolutely gorgeous shot of a meteor over Mt. Fuji in Japan.
“I’ve captured Fuji with meteors many times in the past,” said photographer Yuga Kurita. “So I went ambitious this time. I tried to capture Fuji and a meteor reflected in Lake Saiko with a standard focal length lens. When I saw this meteor, I was absolutely stunned.”
See more Geminids from around the world, below:
Geminid meteors over Beijing, China. A stacked image of more than 20 meteors, taken in just 140 minutes. Credit and copyright: Steed Yu.Geminid Meteor on 12-15-2014 .Captured cutting through the winter Milkyway in the constellation of Auriga, you can see the very colorful trail of the meteor in this image, the trail stretched more than 15 degrees of sky. Taken near Warrenton, Virginia. Credit and copyright: John Chumack.Four different Geminid meteors as seen from Oxfordshire, England with a Canon 1100D with standard lens. The time of the meteor is marked on the photo. Credit and copyright: Mary Spicer.
Astrophotographer Mary Spicer shared these four meteor shots, and added, “Over about 90 minutes we saw a total of 61 meteors, 57 of which were Geminids and 6 were fireballs.”
In a 3.5 hour period on Dec. 13/14, 2014, the photographer managed to capture 38 Geminid meteors. This composite contains just 11 of those meteors. Credit and copyright: Paul Andrew.
A timelapse movie taken by Michael Mauldin of the clouds and stars over Liberty Hill, Texas on Saturday, December 13, 2014. Two Geminid meteors are captured (each frame is frozen for a few seconds so you can see them):
Geminid meteors caught over Connaught Dome, at the Norman Lockyer Observatory in Devon, England. Credit and copyright: David Strange.Two Geminid meteors — one especially bright — streak through the sky on Sunday, December 14, 2014. This photo is a composite of two separate frames, taken a few minutes apart, to capture both meteors. Credit and copyright: David Murr.A Geminid fireball captured on Dec. 13, 2014 near Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Credit and copyright: Frankie Lucena.A faint green Geminid meteor joined in the sky scene with On display are : M44, Jupiter , the Moon, and Procyon in Canis Minor. Credit and copyright: Carsten Pauer.A unique view of the 2014 Geminid Meteor Shower, taken on Dec. 14. 5 images stacked. Credit and copyright: Jason Asplin.A Geminid Meteor taken on Dec. 14, 2014 from a garden in the middle of Worthing, West Sussex England. Credit and copyright: BiteYourBum.com Photography. A bright Geminid meteor on Dec. 14, 2014. Credit and copyright: Slave Stojanoski.Waiting for Geminids: a self portrait of the photographer waiting for the meteor shower to peak. Credit and copyright: Sergio Garcia Rill.
While the above photo doesn’t have any meteors, it still garners a place in this post because astrophotographer Sergio Garcia Rill was waiting and hoping to capture some. Alas, writes Rill on Flickr, “While I had good enough luck to get some relatively clear skies for the Geminids meteor shower I think I wasn’t fortunate enough to catch any meteors on camera. I saw about a dozen meteors with my eyes, and a couple in the direction my cameras were pointing, but they probably weren’t strong enough to get captured with the settings I had.”
