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Geminid meteor shower: why spectacular light show puzzles scientists

By now you've probably heard that tonight's the night for what is arguably one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year, the Geminids.

The shower earns its name from its apparent point of origin, or radiant, in the constellation Gemini.

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But where many meteor showers represent Earth's encounter with dust from a comet, the Geminids appear to have an odd duck of a source: an asteroid that some now call a rock comet.

And it's not clear from recent observations whether the object, known as 3200 Phaethon, is kicking off enough material to account for the intensity of the meteor shower Earth encounters.

A team of astronomers identified the debris gap in a paper published in the Astronomical Journal in November 2010. And researchers are still puzzling over it.

IN PICTURES: Meteors

Although the first recorded observations of the Geminids don't appear until the early 1860s, modeling studies of the debris' orbit suggests that the stream is anywhere from 200 to 6,000 years old.

3200 Phaethon was discovered by NASA's Infrared Astronomical Satellite in 1983. Once scientists determined its orbit, the orbit closely matched with the orbit of the debris stream.

One of the asteroid's key features is its proximity to the sun at closest approach. It comes nearer the sun than any known asteroid, well inside the orbit of Mercury. This allows surface temperatures to reach 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Clips claim Chauncey Billups off waivers

The Los Angeles Clippers did manage to acquire a point guard even after the collapse of their trade for Chris Paul by unexpectedly claiming Chauncey Billups off waivers.

The league's 30 teams were notified shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Monday that the Clippers had lodged the winning waiver bid for Billups, who was released Friday by the New York Knicksthrough the amnesty clause in the NBA's new labor agreement.

One source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.com that the Clippers' winning bid to land Billups in the waiver auction was just over $2 million, meaning that the Knicks will still have to pay out the remaining balance of nearly $12 million from Billups' $14.2 million salary this season.

Had no team claimed him, Billups would have become an unrestricted free agent, sure to attract the interest of contenders such as the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. ESPN.com reported earlier Monday that Dwight Howard also planned to lobby Billups to come to Orlando if he decided to stay with the Magic.

But the Clippers ignored the recent threats by Billups and agent Andy Miller that the 35-year-old would retire if he was claimed by a team he didn't want to join, giving their roster a veteran boost along with the recent signing of Caron Butler to a three-year deal worth $24 million.

"Chauncey is a warrior. He's a player. This is a similar situation -- we had this in the best year we had here -- with Sam Cassell. He got traded away from a place he was really comfortable in," Clippers general manager Neil Olshey said. "All we said was, 'Come in with an open mind. Give us a chance. Look at our culture, look at who we were.' The next year Sam becomes the Messiah, got us to the second round of the playoffs, signed a two-year deal for $14 million dollars and finished his career. It's not unlike that.

"There's going to be some work to do. I think Chauncey would've liked to control the process, but unfortunately we have to do what's best for our team. I think once he gets here and sees the resources we have, meets the guys and sees what kind of team we have, hopefully we can do the same thing with him as we were able to do with Sam andMarcus Camby."

Olshey, in a sitdown with local reporters shortly before the Billups news became public, explained that L.A. intended to use its remaining salary-cap space before matching the Golden State Warriors' four-year, $43 million offer sheet to restricted free agent DeAndre Jordan.

The Clippers then went out and did exactly what Olshey hinted at, claiming Billups and then matching the offer to Jordan. NBA rules dictate that the Clippers can't trade Billups this season after claiming him, so he can only play for L.A. if he plays in the NBA season unless he is released.

"There are some sequential transactions that have to happen first," Olshey said when asked whether the team would match Jordan's offer sheet. "We've still got $3.5 million in cap room and before we give up that flexibility we have to exhaust every opportunity that we have to use the remaining cap room we have.

"But I would expect DeAndre to be here smiling and being goofy and doing skits with Blake at some point at media day (Tuesday)."

Source: http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7346801/los-angeles-clippers-claim-chauncey-billups-waivers