What is a Meteor Shower?

A Comet - Credit: NASA

A meteor shower happens when a cluster of meteoroids orbiting the Sun cross the path of the Earth’s orbit. The meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere at a similar time each year. Their path is also roughly the same; therefore they seem to radiate from a certain spot in the sky. So where do the meteoroids come from that cause meteor showers? Typically, comets that also orbit our Sun will have a trail of debris following them. This trail of debris is filled with meteoroids. A meteoroid is a small, stony or metallic object. Meteoroids are made up of materials similar to asteroids, but are much smaller. Asteroids and meteoroids are generally made up of minerals such as quartz or ferrous metals like iron and/or nickel. They can be as small as a grain of sand or dust particle or as large as the size of large boulders.

Let’s use the Perseids Meteor Shower as an example. The Perseids gets their name from the constellation Perseus because of the fact that they seem to stem from a point near that constellation. Debris in orbit around our Sun following a trail from the Swift-Tuttle comet causes the Perseids Meteor Shower.

So try to imagine a comet as a racecar passing you by on a circular track, the dust following the racecar is the meteoroids and you are the Earth. If you pass into the trail of the dust you will be hit by the particles, however if you are not in the path of the dust particles they will still follow the racecar around the track. Just remember in space there is no air resistance so these dust particles will have an easier time remaining in an orbit around our Sun because of gravity from the comet and other objects.

There is very little meteor shower activity from now until April so I will be posting more meteor facts to keep you interested until the next meteor shower comes into a town near you!

Keep your head up.

- Meteor Mark