Perseid Meteor Shower

Meteor Showers

• As a comet travels close to the Sun, it heats up and part of the comet vaporizes leaving a lot of small pieces of the comet along the comet's path.

• A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet and small fragments of comet debris burn in the earth’s atmosphere.

• The meteor showers can be predicted and occur at the same time each year.

Comets leave debris on their orbit!

• Unlike the nearly circular orbits of the planets, the orbits of

comets are usually quite lop-sided. As a comet gets closer

to the Sun, some of its icy surface boils off, releasing lots of

particles of dust and rock.

• Several times each year,

as Earth makes its

journey around the Sun,

its orbit crosses the orbit

of a comet, which means

Earth smacks into a

bunch of comet debris.

What is the Perseid Meteor

Shower?

• The Perseid meteor shower is caused by

debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle.

• Every 133 years the huge comet swings

through the inner solar system and leaves

behind a trail of dust and gravel.

Comet Swift-Tuttle

• When Earth passes

through the debris,

specks of comet-stuff

hit the atmosphere at

140,000 mph and

disintegrate in

flashes of light.

Meteor Shower Names

• Meteor showers are usually named for the

constellation in which their radiant lies at

the peak of the shower.

• Perseid shower = Perseus

• Leonid shower = Leo

• Geminid shower = Gemini

Perseid Radiant

Geminid Radiant

• The Perseids are a popular attraction in the night sky

in August each year.

Perseids striking the Moon!

• Since it has no protective

atmosphere, the moon does

not ever experience meteor

showers like Earth does.

Instead, every incoming

object makes it straight to the

lunar surface. The rain of

meteoroids creates miniature

craters on the moon and

steadily erodes the

landscape.

Meteoroid

• Meteoroid- small, solid body moving within

the solar system usually debris associated

with comets or asteroids.

• When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere it is traveling at 60-70 km per second and becomes a meteor!

Meteor

• Meteor- (shooting star)- bright trail of light

created by small solid particles entering

the Earth’s atmosphere & burning up.

• 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! The average weight is only around 1 gram!

Fire Balls

• Fire balls are large, brilliant meteors that

may weigh up to several kilograms or

more.

• On a given night, with favorable

conditions, you can see 1 meteor every 15

minutes

Meteorite

• Meteorite - solid remains of a meteor that

falls to the Earth.

Hoba meteorite

(Namibia) is

the largest meteorite

ever found. It is

tabular in shape of

66-ton of iron, about

nine feet long, nine

feet wide and about

three feet thick.

Resources

http://www.popastro.com/meteor/index.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5mPCF5LFfE