Geminids Meteor Shower

(YouTube Screenshot)

Stunning: Geminids Meteor Shower illuminates the night sky [video]

Did you miss the Geminids Meteor Shower on Friday? Well, we’ve got the greatest footage from across the world. It really was breathtaking!

Geminids Meteor Shower

(YouTube Screenshot)

Oh, what a night! The Geminids Meteor Shower reached its peak on Friday, as shooting stars lit up the pitch black sky.

Geminids is famous for being the most striking meteor shower on the calendar – delivering upwards of 120 visible meteors an hour, it comfortably outshines other cosmic events like these.

Stargazers in Mzansi were left feeling slightly shortchanged, as cloud cover affected many viewers who were hoping for clear skies. Although central and northern regions of the country were largely fine, coastal regions and Gauteng battled with adverse weather conditions.

But whether it was the weather, or the battle to stay awake until the 2:00 peak that accounted for you missing this spectacle, there’s no need to fret. We’ve collected some of the most astounding footage of Geminids, from outposts all across the world.

Watch the best of the Geminids Meteor Shower here:

We’re going to start with something very novel first-up. Have you ever seen a meteor shower from above? Unless you’ve served as an astronaut there’s a good chance the answer to that is no. Until now…

The International Space Station was tracking the Geminids overnight, and picked up some incredible movement down below. It’s a brief clip, but one that’s left us feeling pretty amazed:


Now we’re onto the time-lapse: This video from Arizona shows a plethora of meteorites falling from the sky, dazzling above the desert. It’s estimated that around six meteors per minute were visible on Friday!


And finally, we’ve got real-time footage from Germany, showing what the Geminids Meteor Shower looked like from a European vantage point. Recorded in the northern town of Harpstedt, Lindemann Film uploaded this remarkable video after the Friday night spectacular. We hope he had plenty of wishes to spare, because we’re seeing a lot of shooting stars here: