People across the world were treated to a light show of Geminid meteors as they cruised through the cloudless skies on Thursday night and early Friday morning. People in rural areas were treated to a minimum of 20 to 30 meteors per hour as well as a couple of fireballs that were reported.

The phenomenon, which has been witnessed every year since 1838, has been known to traditionally last for a couple of Dec. nights.

According to RT, studies have shown that the Geminids meteor showers already "have a reputation for being rich in slow, bright and gracefull meteors and fireballs as well as faint meteors."

In a statement, Bill Cooke, who is the head of the Meteroid Environment Office at NASA, described the resiliency of nature's sky lighting spectacular.

"It could be 30 [meteors] an hour, it could be 100 an hour. But those are only average figures - there may be a period of 10 minutes that you don't see anything, but equally there may be a period of 10 minutes when you see 30.

Some of the viewers called the bright show the greatest meteor shower that they've ever witnessed. Many of them even took to social media to report each of their respective sightings, according to the Washington Post.

"Hit the roof at our place just now at 4th and Mass NW and was astounded by the show, amazing," @MD_DC posted.

"In Clifton, VA, saw 9 in 20 minutes.. most of them were nice and bright!" Daniel Koklauner wrote.

"Rural area next to the Bay, very dark. Absolutely incredible. In the 30 minutes I was out there, saw 17-18 bright ones, and dozens of very faint ones," Dave Ullrich said.

The clear skyline and minimal moonlight (in a new moon phase) are said to have contributed to the ideal skywatching conditions. Urban residents in the light of pollution were still able to see the bright shooting stars as well.

Tags
Geminids Meteor Shower, Offbeat, Science