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Zoom Astronomy Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites |
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Zoom Astronomy Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites |
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| What's the Difference? | Meteoroids Space Debris |
Meteors Falling through the Atmosphere |
Meteor Showers | Meteorites On Earth |
Quiz |
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A meteor shower is a phenomenon in which many meteors fall through the atmosphere in a relatively short time and in approximately parallel trajectories. A very intense meteor shower is called a meteor
storm.
Meteor showers (and storms) occur when the Earth passes through a comet's orbit, and left-over comet debris (rocks, etc.) bombards the Earth. Each meteor shower occurs at a predictable time each year. Showers are named after the constellation they seem to originate from (their radiant, the point in the sky from which the shower seems to be come). The next HUGE meteor shower (a meteor storm) will be the Leonid shower of November, 1999, which is expected to produce up to thousands of meteorite each hour.
| Meteor Shower | Approximate Dates | Date of Maximum | Approximate Hourly Rate of Meteors | Velocity km/sec |
Parent Comet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrantids (visible by Boötes) | Dec. 8-Jan. 7 | Jan. 3 | 40-60 | 42 | unknown |
| Lyrids | Apr. 16-25 | Apr. 22 | 10-15 | 48 | Thatcher 18611 |
| Eta Aquarids | April 21-May 12 | May 5-6 | 20-50 | 66 | Halley (periodic) |
| Delta Aquarids | July 14-Aug.18 | July 28-29 | 20 | 41 | unknown |
| Perseids | July 23-Aug. 22 | Aug. 12 | 50-75 | 60 | Swift-Tuttle (periodic) |
| Orionids | Oct. 15-29 | Oct. 21-22 | 20-25 | 66 | Halley (periodic) |
| Southern Taurids | Sept 17-Nov. 27 | Oct. 30- Nov. 7 | 10-15 | x | Encke (periodic) |
| Leonids | Nov. 14-20 | Nov. 17-18 | 15-80+++ | 71 | Tempel-Tuttle (periodic) |
| Geminids | Dec. 6-19 | Dec. 13-14 | 50-85 | 35 | Asteroid #3200 Phaeton |
| Ursids | Dec. 17-25 | Dec. 22 | 15 | 34 | Tuttle |
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