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It's that time of the year again. No, we're not talking about Christmas; we're talking about meteors.
Each December, Earth passes through the cloud of debris produced by rock comet 3200 Phaethon, resulting in arguably the best meteor shower of the year — the Geminid shower.
This year's shower peaked Saturday night into Sunday morning, and NASA said as many as 100-120 meteors fell per hour.
3200 Phaethon is believed to have come from the asteroid belt and produces a tail of debris when its orbit takes it too close to the sun.
The Geminid meteoroids got their name because they appear to fly out of the constellation Gemini.
NASA explains Geminids are very dense and are able to penetrate deep into the atmosphere, producing bright and visible "falling stars."
This video includes images from Shan Sheehan / CC BY ND 2.0, Luis Argerich / CC BY NC 2.0, Sergiu Bacioiu / CC BY NC 2.0 and Getty Images.
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