Why do shooting stars come in showers?
On some nights of the year, you can see many more shooting stars than usual. Here is why.
Comets are lumps of ice and dust that travel around the Sun. When a comet comes close to the Sun, it warms up. Some of its ice turns to gas, and dust breaks free.
The dust spreads out along the comet's path, like crumbs dropped along a pathway.
Every year, Earth travels around the Sun on the same path. On the same dates each year, it crosses the comet's trail of crumbs.
Then lots of specks of dust hit our air, one after another. We see many shooting stars in one night. This is called a meteor shower.
The Perseids come every August. Their dust comes from a comet called Swift–Tuttle. The Geminids come every December, and they are one of the best showers of the year.
The shooting stars in a shower all seem to fly out from the same part of the sky, like rays from a point. That point is called the radiant.
The Geminids are unusual: their dust comes from a rocky object called Phaethon, not from an icy comet.
Look at the sky calendar to find the next meteor shower, and mark it on your family calendar.