The Geminids return this December, bringing their trademark burst of colorful, fast-moving meteors—but their real intrigue lies in the object behind them. Instead of a comet, the shower is powered by debris from 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid that grows a gaseous tail astronomers say shouldn’t exist.
Peaking from the night of December 13 to the morning of December 15, this shower is one of the sky’s most spectacular shows. To find out how to view it at its best, head to:
https://on.natgeo.com/BRWA12132025