View on EarthSky Community Photos. | Roger Oban in Tucson, Arizona, took this photo of a Geminid on December 14, 2020. He shot this meteor from his backyard. Thanks, Roger!
The Geminid meteor shower of 2020 peaked around the night of December 13-14, and many reported a beautiful display! For example, veteran meteor observer Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona – who watched late at night on December 13 – wrote:
I had a great night! There were several fireballs and many Sirius bright meteors [Editor’s note: Sirius is the brightest star in the sky]. I saw 77 in total between 1:30 am and 4:00 am
View on EarthSky Community Photos | Matthew Schmidt captured a number of meteors from Island Beach State Park, USA, on December 13, 2020, by stacking 16 images into a mesmerizing composite. He wrote, “It should have been a cloudy night on the Jersey Shore. We happened to be peeping clear air for a few hours. Great light show! ”. Thanks, Matthew!
View on EarthSky Community Photos | Kent and Carolyn Carlson caught this meteor over Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, USA on December 13, 2020. They wrote: “Carolyn and I hiked a half mile uphill through the snow in the dark to a small cliff overlooking Moraine. Park. We were rewarded with a most spectacular meteor show, mainly from or through the constellation Orion to the east. We only spent 2 hours on the site because of the drifting snow and gusts of wind. “Thanks, Kent and Carolyn!
View on Flickr. | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona caught this bright earth-grazing fireball on December 13, 2020. Thanks, Eliot!
Eddie Irizarry in Puerto Rico made a short video that he shared with us. He noted:
The meteor shower was beautiful!
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However, not everyone saw a good show. Bob Holderness-Roddam from Australia tried his best but was not impressed with the shower with him. He wrote:
I crawled out of bed at 1am Monday morning, Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time, got into my car and drove to a relatively dark area away from the city – just a few farm lights in the distance. Excellent view of Castor and Pollux as well as Orion and other constellations. But fuck all meteors. Five in total from 1:15 am to 3:20 am. Three quite dim, the other two not particularly clear. Did I do something wrong or was the predicted performance a ‘no show’?
You did just right, Bob. It is always the case that the farther you are from city lights, the more meteors you will see. But this is nature; it always has an unpredictable component. The best thing to do for any meteor shower is to get away from city lights, look up and hope for the best! Although the Geminids peak has passed, this meteor shower is expected to remain active until about December 22 this year, according to the American Meteor Society. Try again?
Check out the beautiful photos below of this year’s Geminid meteor shower. Thanks to everyone who signed up with EarthSky Community Photos!
View on EarthSky Community Photos. | Kristian Evar Palac in Lucban, Quezon, Philippines took this photo on December 15, 2020 during the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. Thanks, Kristian!
View on EarthSky Community Photos. | Chirag Bachani captured the footage to create this Geminid composition on December 14, 2020. He wrote, “The Geminid meteor shower produced a spectacular show with more than 100 meteors per hour at the peak around 2am local time at 14 December. This image shows more than 40 meteors captured during the night from a dark sky of Bortle Class 1 in Marathon, Texas. Many of the meteors lasted more than 2 seconds and were typically green and blue. Also present is the Andromeda galaxy in the center left of the image. “Thanks, Chirag!
View on EarthSky Community Photos. | Martha Dean in San Saba County, Texas, took this photo of a Gemini fireball on December 14, 2020. She wrote, “After the clouds lifted, the sky was full of Gemini meters. A beautiful, chilly night in Central Texas. Thanks, Martha!
View on EarthSky Community Photos. | Matt Lantz in Palo Pinto County, Texas, took this photo of 5 Geminids on December 14, 2020. He wrote, “The Geminid meteor shower did not disappoint this year! Was so happy to get several bright meteors to this location in a short time. The shower was great, but it was late, cold and I was ready to go home. Thanks, Matt!
View on EarthSky Community Photos. | David Byers in Texas Hill Country captured this photo of a bright Geminid on December 14, 2020. He wrote, “Drove to a dark sky in the hill country. When I started shooting it was cloudy, but then it cleared for about an hour for this shot. “Thanks, David!
In short, some members of the EarthSky community saw an amazing Geminid meteor shower in 2020 and shared their images with us.
