We get treated to meteor showers when Earth passes through the trails of comets – icy objects which Nasa calls ‘cosmic snowballs’ – or in rarer cases, including the Geminids, asteroids, which are rocky.
When dust and gases from these objects enter our atmosphere, they burn up and create the bright streaks we know as shooting stars.
While most meteors appear white, some can glow green, yellow, red, or blue, depending on the elements in the material as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Metals such as sodium, magnesium, and calcium produce colours similar to those seen in fireworks.
The Geminids shower comes from the remnants of an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.
Until recently, scientists thought the Geminids were a result of dust escaping from 3200 Phaethon. But two years ago scientists revealed, external that Phaethon’s tail is actually made of glowing sodium gas. So there is still some uncertainty about how and when the Geminids dust was formed.
The Geminids offer one of the year’s best chances, weather-permitting, of seeing a shower, due to the volume and frequency of its ‘shooting stars’.
“What you’d be looking at in a nice dark sky without clouds would be, say, 100 an hour, which is amazing, said Dr Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society.
“It’s pretty much the strongest meteor shower of the year.”
