When you’re wishing on a star, does it matter if it fell from a comet or an asteroid?
This weekend the Geminid Meteor Shower comes to its peak. Most meteor showers are caused by comets, but the Geminids are mysteriously caused by an asteroid.
It’s like this: Asteroids are usually found in the asteroid belt, a region between the planets Mars and Jupiter where there are millions of space rocks; Comets, on the other hand, fly in toward our Sun from well beyond the furthest reaches of our solar system.
Asteroids are made up of metals and rocky material, so they’re solid, even when they’re near the Sun. Comets are made up of ice, dust, and rock. That might not seem like a big distinction, but when comets get close to the Sun, they burn up. And it’s this burned up stuff that causes meteor showers.
Then there’s asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the parent body of the Geminid Meteor Shower. It’s an asteroid not a comet, so it remains solid and doesn’t leave a trail, even when it’s near the Sun.
Still, 3200 Phaethon mysteriously causes one of the most prolific meteor showers of the year.
Astronomers call 3200 Phaethon a ‘rock comet’, a rare form of celestial object that isn’t vaporizing and leaving a trail of dust like a comet, but nonetheless is triggering a meteor shower here on earth.
Unlike its namesake Phaethon, who took off with his father’s chariot of the Sun and fell to his death, the asteroid 3200 Phaethon appears somewhat defiant, producing a lively meteor shower every year, with 120 to 160 meteors per hour at its peak.
Look for the Geminid Meteor Shower overnight this weekend, from Saturday to Sunday~and let the mysterious nature of 3200 Phaethon infuse your holidays with magic.