Today’s Google Doodle celebrates one of the most exciting astronomical events that almost anyone can enjoy for themselves – the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids produce shooting stars in the night sky that will be visible and for the next few nights. The Google Doodle will track the Geminids as they pass through the sky.
The spectacular showers are brought to the Earth’s atmosphere every December by an asteroid called Phaethon, satellite data discovered 35 years ago. The asteroid named after Greek God Apollo’s son, 3200 Phaethon’s orbit brings it closer to our sun than Mercury. Since the 1800s, with every passing year, the escalation of yellowish streaks of light in the night-sky have only grown intense.
