Latest Meteor showers Stories
BOSTON (AP) -- A meteor shower Sunday night sparked a flurry of frantic phone calls to police departments across New England from people who saw bright lights moving in the sky, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said. The meteor shower was seen as far north as Portland, Maine, and as far south as Long Island. Some witnesses apparently mistook the meteor shower for a plane crashing in Connecticut, the FAA's Holly Baker said. "We've checked all around. There are no...
Viewing both the inner and outer planets with a telescope may promise some of the best views during January, particularly as the Saturn-Earth distance closes near the scheduled January 14th descent of the Huygens probe towards the surface of Titan.Astrobiology Magazine -- The highlight of January will be the planet Saturn, which will be opposite the sun as seen from Earth on Jan. 13. On that night Saturn will therefore be closest to us in its orbit, rising in the east at dusk and shining all...
The best meteor shower of 2004 peaks on Dec. 13th.Science@NASA -- Make hot cocoa. Bundle up. Tell your friends: the best meteor shower of 2004 is about to peak on a long cold December night. It's the Geminids. The best time to look is Monday night, Dec. 13th. Sky watchers who stay outside for a few hours around midnight can expect to see dozens to hundreds of "shooting stars." The source of the shower is asteroid 3200 Phaethon. There's a cloud of dust trailing the asteroid and Earth...
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,...
