Google Doodle of the Day: Path of the Geminid Meteor Shower of 2018

Google on Thursday dedicated a doodle to the Geminid Meteor Shower 2018, showing the path of the meteors through Earth’s atmosphere. In a slideshow with seven animated images, the doodle explains the phenomenon of one of the most spectacular meteor shower every year.

On the first slide, the doodle shows an illustration of our solar system, with the Sun becoming the second O in the logo. The subsequent images show Geminids’ path through Earth’s atmosphere which can be viewed by clicking the arrow button on either of the doodle.

The meteor shower that occurs every year is brought to the Earth’s atmosphere by an asteroid called Phaethon which was discovered by a satellite 35 years ago.

The meteor shower is a consequence of dust and grit burning when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The escalation of yellowish streaks of light in the night-sky has only grown intense with every passing year.

In a blog post, Google said, “If the weather is clear, 2018 should be the best year ever to watch the Gemenides—so named because they seem to originate from the constellation Gemini. No need for a telescope or binoculars: fragments from Phaethon’s debris trail should become visible after 9 pm on December 13, peaking after midnight with as many as 120 meteors per hour. The cosmic dust may have resulted from a crash with another flying object, but there’s little danger of any Geminids landing on Earth as it normally disintegrates in the earth’s atmosphere.”