Sirius and a Striking Meteor

The annual Geminid meteor shower peaks on December 13/14 and as expected it displayed a fascinating show in 2009. The shower is created as planet Earth sweeps through dusty debris from extinct comet Phaethon. In this photograph from Zagros mountains of Iran a bright shooting star (a fireball if it was viewed higher in the sky) strikes the sky near Sirius, the brightest star of our night-time. On the right side, stars of Orion (with the notable Orion Nebula) are about to set in the western horizon.

See this striking meteor in a time-lapse video of Geminid meteor shower. © Babak Tafreshi