Shooting Stars of December

The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks on December 13/14, is one of the best time of the year to see the celestial show of “shooting stars”. The shower is created as planet Earth sweeps through dusty debris from extinct comet Phaethon. In this photograph from Mojave Desert of southwest USA, two bright meteors strike the western sky in the constellations Taurus and Auriga. © Wally Pacholka