Geminid meteor shower 2025 thrills skywatchers with an end-of-year celestial firework show (photos)

The 2025 Geminid meteor shower delivered a stunning celestial display, peaking on December 13th. As fragments of the asteroid (3200) Phaethon entered Earth's atmosphere, they created brilliant streaks of light across the night sky.

The meteors appeared to originate from the constellation Gemini, which also hosted the planet Jupiter throughout December. Talented photographers around the globe captured breathtaking images of the event. Shooting stars blazed across the star-filled skies of the Northern Hemisphere constellations, including Taurus and Orion, with the Pleiades star cluster adding to the spectacle.

Below is a collection of striking photographs showcasing the beauty of the 2025 Geminid meteor shower, as seen through the lenses of astrophotographers from various locations.

One remarkable image, taken by Tayfun Coskun on December 14th, shows a Geminid meteor streaking above Yosemite National Park in California. The Hyades and Pleiades star clusters are visible above a glowing tunnel nestled within the tree-covered hillside.

Coskun also captured another view on the same night: a shooting star traveling parallel to the Milky Way's dense star field, with the Andromeda Galaxy's ancient light appearing near a tree on the horizon. The Perseus Double Cluster, consisting of stars much younger and hotter than our sun, is also visible.

In China's Shandong province, a Geminid meteor was photographed on December 13th just before it passed through the Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery relatively close to Earth, and below the three stars of Orion's Belt.

That same night, a meteor lit up the sky above the snowy landscape of Ulanqab, located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.

Fu Yujianglin captured a different meteor as it descended toward Earth, heading towards the snow-capped mountains of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China's Sichuan Province.

Using a 24mm lens, storm photographer and X user LoriGraceWX captured a spectacular image of a meteor piercing the sky over the Organ Mountains in New Mexico.

Wouter van Bernebeek created a composite image from Brocken Mountain in Germany, at an altitude of 1,140 meters (3,740 feet). It shows shooting stars illuminating the night sky alongside the glowing band of the Milky Way.

Matt Lantz combined nine separate shots to show Geminid meteors radiating from Jupiter and the bright stars Castor and Pollux above a church near Seymour, Texas, on the night of the shower's peak.

Finally, Jeremy Rand, a northern lights enthusiast, captured several Geminid meteors streaking through the constellation Orion. Orion was positioned about 40 degrees from the shower's radiant, where the meteor trails appeared longest.