Scientists Say ‘Violent Creation’ Caused the Best Meteor Shower of the Year

Each year, in the middle of December, our planet traverses a cloud of cosmic dust and debris that orbits the sun.

This celestial interaction gives rise to a magnificent spectacle known as the Geminid meteor shower, featuring up to 150 vibrant “shooting stars” per hour.

While most meteor showers originate from comets, the Geminids are an exception. They are actually caused by an asteroid named Phaethon 3200, which was discovered by NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite in 1983. Phaethon 3200, a near-Earth asteroid with a diameter of approximately 5 kilometers, orbits the Sun every 524 days. The asteroid earned its name from the Greek mythological figure Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios, due to its close proximity to the sun.

Unraveling the Mystery of Meteoroids

Traditionally, scientists believed that meteor showers resulted from the melting of comets—an amalgamation of rock and ice—as they approached the sun. However, the perplexing question remained: How could an asteroid, composed primarily of rock and metal, produce a similar phenomenon?

In a groundbreaking study published today in the Planetary Science Journal, researchers utilized data collected by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe—a spacecraft currently conducting studies on the sun. The probe has traversed the dust trail of Phaethon 3200 an impressive nine times between 2018 and 2021.

“What’s truly intriguing is that despite Phaethon 3200 being classified as an asteroid, it exhibits temperature-induced activity as it interacts with the sun,” stated Jamey Szalay, a research scholar at Princeton University’s space physics laboratory and co-author of the paper. “This behavior is not commonly observed in asteroids.”

The Theory of ‘Violent Creation’

Parker’s data suggests that the dust trail of Phaethon 3200 deviates slightly from its parent body’s orbit when in close proximity to the sun. This peculiar observation raised questions that required further examination.

After extensive modeling, the scientists settled on a theory known as the “violent creation” model, which explains how an asteroid like Phaethon 3200 can generate the observed meteoroid stream. This theory proposes that a sudden, powerful event—possibly a high-speed collision with another celestial body or a gaseous explosion—was responsible for the formation of the meteoroid stream in the inner solar system.

Although the Geminids can be spotted anywhere in the night sky, they appear to originate from the constellation of Gemini.

Wishing you clear skies and unforgettable stargazing experiences.

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