The Geminids are one of the astronomical highlights of the year, creating a spectacular show of shooting stars every December. Scientists are now starting to understand where they came from.

It was a time of great upheaval. The Roman Empire was in chaos after the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander, while China was in turmoil following a string of wars. Far above the heads of these human machinations around 1,800 years ago, however, another dramatic event was unfolding – the effects of which we can still see today.

Scientists think that around this time, something catastrophic happened to an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon, causing it to crumble and fling bits of debris into a long ring around the Sun. Every year, our own planet barrels through this cloud of debris, producing one of the most impressive meteor showers – the Geminids.

Look up on a clear night in mid-December and you might catch a glimpse of them – streaks of light tracing across our sky. These are particles of this asteroid being vaporised in our atmosphere at speeds of up to 79,000mph (127,000km/h).

The Geminids are particularly notable for the range of colours they produce, including yellow, green, and blue, says Tomáš Henych, an astrophysicist at the Czech Academy of Sciences. They are also very bright, with up to 150 meteors visible to the naked eye every hour. “You usually see nice meteors,” says Henych.