Geminid meteor shower 2018: google doodle celebrates meteor display

Today’s Google Doodle is dedicated to the breathtaking Geminid meteor shower. The shooting stars will be visible on the night sky for the next few days, with its peak time in the early hours

of December 14. If the weather is clear, 2018 should be the best year ever to watch the Gemenids. Google wrote: “Today’s slideshow Doodle1 follows the Geminids’ path through Earth’s

atmosphere as it lights up the sky. “As Phaethon’s orbit leads it near the sun, the extreme heat causes it to fracture and leaves a trail of debris in its orbital path. “Every December,

Earth’s orbit leads us through the trail of 3200 Phaethon and its debris crashes into our atmosphere at 79,000 miles (127,000 km) per hour. “Once through the Earth’s atmosphere, the

Geminids’ radiant (or where it appears to originate) is the constellation Gemini—from which the meteor shower gets its name.” The Geminids will be the last of 2018’s major showers and will

enter the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per second (43.5 miles per second.) The falling stars are considered different from other meteor showers in being

multi-coloured, with white and yellow and a few green, red and blue lights. The Royal Observatory Greenwich (ROG) says the colours "are partly caused by the presence of traces of metals

like sodium and calcium, the same effect that is used to make fireworks colourful”. People wishing to observe the meteor shower should try to get away from areas with light pollution. The

shower’s source comes from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which takes about 1.4 years to orbit the Sun. Google explained the Geminids are named after the ancient Greek god Apollo’s son, 3200

Phaethon, which is an asteroid whose orbit brings it closer to our sun than Mercury. The falling stars were first discovered via satellite date 35 years ago. The Geminid meteor shower are

thought to be intensifying every year, from 10-20 meteors per hour to around 120 visible per hour. Bill Cook, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office recommends following the tips

listed below for the best views possible: 1) Find the darkest site you can 2) Give your eyes 30 to 45 minutes to adjust to the dark (do not look at your bright cell phone screen, as that

will mess up night vision) 3) Lie on your back looking straight up so as to take in as much sky as possible.