December brings one of the most reliable annual meteor showers called the Geminids. The curious rocky asteroid called 3200 Phaethon is the parent body of this shower. This meteor shower is active every December. When Earth passes through a massive trail of dusty debris shed by a rocky object named 3200 Phaethon. It is thought that 3200 Phaethon was once a comet. It has lost all its volatile compounds during previous orbits around the Sun and turned into an asteroid
The Geminid meteor shower is expected to peak on the nights of December 13-14. Shooting stars will start to streak across the sky as early as 9 or 10 p.m. local time. However, the peak of the shower tends to be in the middle of the night starting around 2 a.m globally. During its peak, 120 Geminid meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions. At the time of the Civil War, the shower's peak rate was about 30 meteors an hour. Since then, the Geminids have gradually increased due to Jupiter's gravity nudging the showers closer to Earth.
Music: Scott Buckley
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