Meteor showers light up the heavens for sky gazers a handful of times during the year, to spectacular effect sometimes. Arctic and space photographer Fredrik Broms captured one of the Quadrantid meteors Wednesday in Kvaløya, Norway, what resembled a tiny gash in the sky. However, other photographers have captured the astronomical fireworks that can have multiple colors, synchronous meteors and wispy tails.

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Perseid Meteor Close Up
Another example of a colorful Perseid meteor from 1993 snapped by researchers at the Universität Bonn. The color trail comes from a meteor that grazes the Earth’s atmosphere just below the horizon, also known as Earthgrazers. The colors in this picture have been enhanced, so you wouldn’t necessarily see this intensity in the sky, but the colors are representative. S. Kohle & B. Koch (Astron. I.
A Lucky Burst of Light from the Sky
Amateur astronomer Howard Edin got a lucky break back in 2008 when he snapped this doozy of a meteor – known as a bolide meteor that disintegrates into a burst of light upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Edin took the photo in Black Mesa State Park in Oklahoma and said he was looking in the opposite direction, and that the intensity of the light made him think someone had turned on headlights. Howard Edin (Oklahoma City Ast
Taurid Fireball Photographed in 2005
Taurid meteors streak across the skies in late October, early November and hit the Earth’s atmosphere at a blazing 65,000 mph, 84 times the speed of sound (although sound doesn’t travel in space). Even the tiniest speck of dust will become a spectacular light show at that speed. Photographer Hiroyuki Iida of Toyama, Japan captured this Taurid fireball photographed Oct. 28, 2005. Hiroyuki Iida
Multicolored Meteor Tail
The next time Earthlings will be able to see Leonid meteors will be Nov. 17, but until then, star gazers can feast their eyes on this example captured by photographer Jerry Lodriguss in November 2001. This five-minute time exposure includes three Leonid meteors, the most dramatic one with a tail of multicolors. Jerry Lodriguss