Who says only professional astronomers can have all the fun during a meteor shower?

Not amateur skywatcher Tom Szumski, of Moorpark, California, who captured this Dec. 13 image of a space rock plummeting through the Earth's atmosphere during the height of the Geminid meteor shower.

With his Sony 5.5-megapixel digital camera in hand, Szumski spent more than three hours watching the skies beginning at about 10:00 p.m. PST (1:00 a.m. EST). This image shows the second-brightest meteor he observed. The first was so bright its smoke trail was visible, Szumski said.

"They were phenomenal," Szumski said of the Geminids.

Of all the regular meteor showers seen from Earth each year, the Geminids are traditionally the most satisfying for skywatchers. They strike the Earth at about 22 miles per second (35 kilometers per second) and grow in intensity a few days before they peak. At their greatest rate, the space rock light show appears to originate in the constellation Gemini, or the Twins, from which it borrows its name.  

-- Tariq Malik

Credit: Tom Szumski

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