Meteors & Meteor Showers

The Differences
Meteoroid, Meteorite, Meteor???
Meteoroid- small, solid body moving within
the solar system.
Meteorite- solid remains of a meteor that
falls to the Earth.
Meteor- (shooting star)- bright trail of light
created by small solid particles entering
the Earths atmosphere & burning up
 Meteor Facts
Meteors (meteoroids) are the debris associated with comets or asteroids
When a meteoroid enters the Earths atmosphere & becomes a meteor,
it is traveling at 60-70 km per second!
On a given night (with favorable conditions), you can see 1 meteor
every 15 minutes
The typical size of a meteor that produces a visible streak of light ranges
from about the size of a grain of sand to the size of a small pebble!
(average weight is only around 1 gram!)
Fireballs (large, brilliant meteors) are periodically seen (these may
weigh up to several kilograms or more). Bolides are fireballs that
explode with a thunderous sound.
See for yourself:
http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/images/18nov01/varros1_movie.g
if
(Fireball)
http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/images/18nov01_page3/Ponde
r1.MPG
(Bolide)
 Why do meteors have a streak of
light??
As they travel through our atmosphere,
meteors collide with air molecules that
knock away materials and strip electrons
from the meteor
When the stripped atoms recapture
electrons, light is emitted
The color of the light depends on the
temperature and the material being
excited.
 Are all meteors the same color??
The material or element that makes up a
meteor is the main factor that determines
the color of its glowing trail
- Sodium = orange-yellow
- Iron = yellow
- Magnesium = blue-green
- Calcium = violet
- Silicon = red
 Sporadic Meteors
These are the meteors that can be seen
on any given night

They are not associated with any

particular meteor shower

They come from random directions in the

sky
 Meteor Showers
Heavy displays of meteors that recur from year
to year
Caused by small fragments of comet debris
entering the earths atmosphere at extremely
high speedswhen the Earths orbit & the
comets orbit intersect at some point
Shower meteors come from the same general
point in the sky
The radiant of a shower is the point in the sky
from which the meteors appear to come
 Meteor Showers (cont.)
Meteor showers are usually named for the
constellation in which their radiant lies at
the peak of the shower

Ex.: Perseid shower = Perseus

Ex.: Leonid shower = Leo
Ex.: Geminid shower = Gemini
 Specific Meteor Showers
Meteor showers occur on a regular basis throughout the year, but
not all are visible in the northern latitudes & some are very weak
and easily go unnoticed
Some of the more impressive showers throughout a given year are:
Shower Avg. Peak
- Quadrantids early January
- Lyrids mid April
- Perseids early/mid August
- Orionids mid/late October
- Leonids mid November
- Geminids mid December
** Historically, the Perseids in August & the Leonids in November
have been the most impressive meteor showers -
http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/images/18nov01_page3/
cordiale1.mov
Thats All
 3 Questions
1. True/False: The material or element that makes up a
meteor is the main factor that determines the color of
the glowing trail left behind
True
2. This major meteor shower has a peak time around
early/mid August:
a. Geminids b. Leonids
c. Orionids d. Perseids
d. Perseids
3. What is the point in the sky from which all of the meteors
seem to come during a shower called?
Radiant
 References
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/m
eteors/showers.html
http://www.sky-watch.com/meteor.html
http://hometown.aol.com/theleonids/
http://www.geocities.com/~starwanderer/m
eteor.htm
http://www.meteorobs.org/showers.html
http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html
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