What Is A Meteor Shower?
At certain points of the year, we are graced by a meteor shower. If you happen to be in an area with no light pollution during a meteor shower, you can potentially see hundreds of shooting stars over the course of a single night. Meteor showers are among the most stunning astronomical events we can observe here on Earth, yet what exactly are they?聽
How Meteor Showers Form
Meteor showers begin as groups of meteors that happen to be located within Earth鈥檚 orbit. As the Earth passes through a group of meteors, they rain down through the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere as a meteor shower. Fortunately, meteors are small enough that they burn up in our atmosphere and rarely ever reach the surface, posing little to no threat to things on Earth. How exactly do groups of meteors end up in Earth鈥檚 orbital path? Groups of meteors are believed to form from the interaction of Earth鈥檚 gravity with comets that pass near our 海角社区. Comets can be thought of as 鈥渄irty snowballs鈥� because they are composed mostly of ice, rock, and dust. As a comet enters the inner solar system and moves towards the sun, heat from the sun causes ice on a comet鈥檚 surface to melt. As the comet moves through space, the melting ice begins to fall behind the comet, forming a vast tail that makes comets so obvious in the night sky. For comets that pass very close to the Earth, the gravity of our planet will capture some of the debris falling off the comet. Thus, meteor showers are actually the debris from comets that were captured by Earth鈥檚 gravity.聽
How Many Meteor Showers Are There?
Meteor showers are a consistent event every year. Astronomers estimate there are around 900 meteor showers, with 100 of them being consistent and well understood. Some meteor showers are fairly small and are often overlooked, yet there are a few that are so intense that they have become quite famous. The two most famous meteor showers are the Persieds and the Leonids. The Persieds peak every year on August 12, and they average at one meteor every minute. The Leonid meteor shower peaks every year on November 17, with a rate similar to the Persieds. However, an interesting fact about the Leonids is that, every 33 years, it produces what鈥檚 called a meteor storm, wherein thousands of meteors can be visible every hour. If you are wanting to see a meteor shower, the two described above will be visible this year, and if you happen to miss them, there鈥檚 always nex year.聽
