https://www.cnet.com/news/google-doodle-follows-2018-geminid-meteor-shower-to-earth/

This is the Geminid meteor shower, so named because the meteors appear to come from a radiant in the constellation Gemini. The first recorded observation was from a riverboat on the Mississippi River in 1833, and it's got more intense each year since.

Every December, Earth passes through this debris cloud, which crashes into our atmosphere at 79,000 miles (127,000 kilometers) per hour, where it normally disintegrates and creates a spectacular light show.