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The Geminids
TThe-Geminids-Best-Of.mp3
The-Geminids-Best-Of.mp4
The-Geminids.mp3
The-Geminids.mp4
The-Geminids-intro.mp3
[Intro]
(Take off the lids)
Geminids
[Verse 1]
Filling the void
(Leftover asteroid)
Lighting up the sky
(My, oh, my)
[Bridge]
(Open your eyelids)
Geminids
[Chorus]
A shooting star
(How bizarre)
Traveling far
(Shooting star)
[Verse 2]
Oh, the power
(Of a meteor shower)
Lighting up the sky
(You know why)
[Bridge]
(Open your eyelids)
Geminids
[Chorus]
A shooting star
(How bizarre)
Traveling far
(Shooting star)
[Bridge]
(Look what the heavens did)
Geminids
[Outro]
Traveling far
(Shooting star?)
What is most bizarre…
(You’re just standing still)
… right until
(We circle ’round)
… your debris’s found
(Round and round and round)
See ya next year
(Nothing to fear)
Round and round and round
(Round and round and round)
ABOUT THE SONG AND THE SCIENCE — The Geminids: A Meteor Shower Born of Rock, Not Ice
What makes the Geminid meteor shower truly unique is its origin. It is the only major annual meteor shower caused by debris from an asteroid rather than a comet. The source is the near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, a rocky body that behaves a bit like a comet, shedding material as it passes close to the Sun. In contrast, most familiar meteor showers—such as the Perseids or Leonids—occur when Earth passes through dusty trails left behind by comets.
Despite these different origins, the underlying physics is the same. Tiny particles—some no larger than grains of sand—slam into Earth’s atmosphere at tremendous speeds. Friction and compression heat the particles so intensely that they vaporize, producing the bright streaks of light we call meteors, or “shooting stars.”
The Geminids are especially prized by skywatchers because they tend to be bright, slow-moving, and often colorful, making them easier to spot than many other showers. So even if clouds spoil the peak night, it’s still worth stepping outside over the next few evenings. With a bit of luck and a break in the clouds, you may catch one of these rare asteroid-born streaks lighting up the winter sky.
The Key Intuition
Meteor showers feel dramatic, but they happen because:
Earth is doing the traveling, not the meteors.
The meteoroids are essentially “standing traffic” in orbital terms. Earth moves into their path at high speed, and the resulting relative velocity creates the bright streaks we see.
Bottom Line
Earth travels farther than the asteroid debris in a year
Meteor showers occur because Earth sweeps through a pre-existing debris stream
The Geminids are special because the debris comes from a rocky asteroid, not an icy comet—but the geometry and physics are the same
From the album “Nonlinear“
View all episodes
By TThe-Geminids-Best-Of.mp3
The-Geminids-Best-Of.mp4
The-Geminids.mp3
The-Geminids.mp4
The-Geminids-intro.mp3
[Intro]
(Take off the lids)
Geminids
[Verse 1]
Filling the void
(Leftover asteroid)
Lighting up the sky
(My, oh, my)
[Bridge]
(Open your eyelids)
Geminids
[Chorus]
A shooting star
(How bizarre)
Traveling far
(Shooting star)
[Verse 2]
Oh, the power
(Of a meteor shower)
Lighting up the sky
(You know why)
[Bridge]
(Open your eyelids)
Geminids
[Chorus]
A shooting star
(How bizarre)
Traveling far
(Shooting star)
[Bridge]
(Look what the heavens did)
Geminids
[Outro]
Traveling far
(Shooting star?)
What is most bizarre…
(You’re just standing still)
… right until
(We circle ’round)
… your debris’s found
(Round and round and round)
See ya next year
(Nothing to fear)
Round and round and round
(Round and round and round)
ABOUT THE SONG AND THE SCIENCE — The Geminids: A Meteor Shower Born of Rock, Not Ice
What makes the Geminid meteor shower truly unique is its origin. It is the only major annual meteor shower caused by debris from an asteroid rather than a comet. The source is the near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, a rocky body that behaves a bit like a comet, shedding material as it passes close to the Sun. In contrast, most familiar meteor showers—such as the Perseids or Leonids—occur when Earth passes through dusty trails left behind by comets.
Despite these different origins, the underlying physics is the same. Tiny particles—some no larger than grains of sand—slam into Earth’s atmosphere at tremendous speeds. Friction and compression heat the particles so intensely that they vaporize, producing the bright streaks of light we call meteors, or “shooting stars.”
The Geminids are especially prized by skywatchers because they tend to be bright, slow-moving, and often colorful, making them easier to spot than many other showers. So even if clouds spoil the peak night, it’s still worth stepping outside over the next few evenings. With a bit of luck and a break in the clouds, you may catch one of these rare asteroid-born streaks lighting up the winter sky.
The Key Intuition
Meteor showers feel dramatic, but they happen because:
Earth is doing the traveling, not the meteors.
The meteoroids are essentially “standing traffic” in orbital terms. Earth moves into their path at high speed, and the resulting relative velocity creates the bright streaks we see.
Bottom Line
Earth travels farther than the asteroid debris in a year
Meteor showers occur because Earth sweeps through a pre-existing debris stream
The Geminids are special because the debris comes from a rocky asteroid, not an icy comet—but the geometry and physics are the same
From the album “Nonlinear“