Andromedid meteor shower. Coloured historical artwork of the Andromedid or Bielid meteor shower of 27 November 1872. Meteor showers, or shooting stars, are dust grains that enter the Earth's atmosphere and glow as they are heated up by air resistance. Although today's Andromedids are very weak (less than three meteors per hour) the shower of 1872 displayed several thousand per hour. The showers occur when the Earth crosses the orbit of debris produced by the comet Biela. Titled The Zodiac Lights (La Luce Zodiacle), from the Modern Illustrated Encyclopaedia (Enciclopedia Moderna Illustrata), published in Milan, Italy, in 1904.