Wolf Cukier ’24 and Research Scholar Jamey Szalay have been using observations from the Parker Space Probe to gain understanding of the creation of the Geminids meteor shower.  Cukier and Szalay used data from the probe to model three scenarios and compare them to models from observations made on Earth.  The models reflect three possible events that lead to the formation of the Geminids.  The Geminids are unusual because most meteor showers come from comets that are made of dust and rock, but Geminids “seems to originate from an asteroid – a chunk of rock and metal – called 3200 Phaethon.”  To learn more about Cukier and Szalay’s work, visit the Princeton Research site or the NASA Parker Space Probe Blog.

Update, 6/22/23: Wolf was also featured on CCN discussing is work.  Watch here.

Great work, Wolf and Jamey!