Latest Meteor showers Stories
John P. Millis, Ph.D. for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online For amateur sky watchers, this weekend promises quite the show. The annual Leonid meteor shower – which gets its name because the meteors appear to originate in the constellation Leo – is upon us, and this year should be pretty good. The meteor shower will be visible during the latter half of the week, peaking early Saturday morning. Those in the Eastern part of the country should see the greatest rate – about...
[WATCH VIDEO: A Meteor Shower From Halley's Comet] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Throughout the year Earth’s denizens are offered a number of good opportunities to witness meteor showers illuminating the night skies, with streaks of white lights racing across the upper atmosphere at lightning speed. Some of these seemingly heavenly showers, such as the late-April Lyrids, the Perseids of mid-August, and the often-spectacular Leonids, which arrive in November,...
[WATCH VIDEO: A Meteor Shower From Halley's Comet] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The National Weather Service (NWS) received numerous calls last night (October 17) from Central Valley to the Bay Area in California, with callers claiming they had witnessed a giant fireball blazing across the night sky. The fireball was reportedly witnessed between about 7:45 and 7:55 p.m. PST. “We've had a lot of calls about people who have seen a big fireball,” said...
[ Watch the Video: ScienceCasts: 2012 Perseid Meteor Shower ] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Every year in August, the Perseid Meteor shower is visible to the naked eye and is a favorite for professional and amateur astronomers alike. The Perseid shower has it all. It offers a consistently high rate of meteors, it produces more bright, visible meteors than any other shower, it happens in August when many people are on vacation, and it happens at a time when...
Peak viewing conditions for the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which occurs annually when Earth passes through the debris trail from Halley's Comet, will begin on the evening of May 5 and last until the early morning hours on May 6, NASA officials announced earlier this week. The meteor shower, which is caused by the cosmic debris from the comet burning up in our planet's atmosphere, produces between 40 and 60 meteors per hour under ideal conditions, the US space agency said in a statement on...
Lawrence LeBlond for RedOrbit.com Residents in parts of Nevada and California were treated to a rare daytime celestial event that awoke some on Sunday morning with a loud explosion, according to a Fox News report. The event -- a meteor streaking across the morning sky -- was followed by hundreds of calls to 911 centers in the area reporting a deafening explosion, while some reported seeing the fireball blazing across the sky. The “big boom,” as it became quickly known across...
[ Watch the Video ] This weekend, NASA scientists, amateur astronomers, and an astronaut on board the International Space Station will attempt the first-ever 3D photography of meteors from Earth and space. "The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 21-22," says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "We’re going to try to photograph some of these 'shooting stars' simultaneously from ground stations, from a research balloon in the stratosphere, and from the...
The dramatic appearance of Halley's comet in the night sky has been observed and recorded by astronomers since 240 BC. Now a study shows that the orbital influences of Jupiter on the comet and the debris it leaves in its wake are responsible for periodic outbursts of activity in the Orionid meteor showers. The results will be presented by Aswin Sekhar at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester on Tuesday 27th March. Halley's comet orbits the Sun every 75-76 years on average. As its...
Thousands of people across Texas and Oklahoma reported seeing a flash of light streaking across the night sky Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the light people saw at about 8 p.m. central time was in fact a meteor. However, the thousands who reported the flash as an unidentified flying object do not have to feel inadequate when it comes to spotting meteors. This meteor was unusually large, and it created a sonic boom as it passed by residents. “We know it...
Latest Meteor showers Reference Libraries
Perseids Meteor Shower -- Like most meteor showers, the Perseids are caused by comet debris. As comets enter the inner solar system, they are warmed by the sun and peppered by the solar wind, which produces the familar tails that stretch across the night sky when a bright comet is close to Earth. Comet tails are made of tiny pieces of ice, dust, and rock which are spewed into interplanetary space as they bubble off the comet's nucleus. When Earth encounters these particles on its...
Leonids Meteor Shower -- The Leonids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The meteor stream is viewable every year around November 17 and is thought to be comprised of particles ejected by the comet as it passes by the Sun. When the Earth moves through the meteor stream, the meteor shower is visible. The Leonids get their name from usually making their appearance in or near the constellation Leo. The Leonids are famous because their meteor showers,...
