This picture shows the Geminid Meteor Shower from the Kitt Peak National Observatory which is located near Tucson, Arizona. This was taken early Tuesday morning. The closest building seen in this picture has the Bok Telescope and behind that is the Mayall 4 Meter telescope dome. However, the meteors were easily seen with the naked eye. The meteors come from Earth moving through dust from the asteroid-like object 3200 Phaethon.This meteor shower is unique because the meteors don't come from comets. It comes from a rock object called 3200 Phaethon that sheds very little dust debris which doesn't explain the Geminid showers. Of all the meteor showers that occur, this one is the most massive and it lasts for days. It can produce as many as 120 meteors per hour over dark-sky sites. The answer for the cause of the Geminid shower is still uncertain.
I chose this apod because the Geminid Meteor Shower was something I saw. I was not aware that this was an annual celestial event. I thought that a meteor shower was a one time thing. I saw it in the early morning around 5 am, and i was able to spot a few meteors. It was interesting to know that this was one of the most intense showers and that I was able to see it and the meteors i saw did in fact look like the ones in the picture.
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