Gemini over a snow-covered forest. /Courtesy of NASA

The photo shared by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) captures a meteor shower taken by an observer early Saturday morning in a snow-covered forest in Poland. More than 20 shooting stars (meteors) were observed, which is expected as mid-December is the time for the Geminid meteor shower. It is the most dazzling meteor shower that decorates the night sky annually from Nov. 19 to Dec. 24. Most meteor showers are created from debris left by comets, but the Geminid meteor shower is generated by fragments of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Discovered in 1983, 3200 Phaethon has an orbital period of about 524 days. The Geminid meteor shower occurs due to dust and rock shed by 3200 Phaethon as it passes by.

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