Elon Musk

 Meteor Shower

The interplanetary space is full of stones, diameter of which makes tens meters and fewer. When these meteoroids rush into the Earth’s atmosphere with a relatively high speed, they leave the visible traces created by a strong heating caused by friction, which evaporates them. They are called meteors or "falling stars". Meteors enter into the Earth’s atmosphere on a regular basis. In normal night, it is usually possible to see some single meteors per hour. Nevertheless, in a certain time, the density of observed meteors is much higher. These periods are called meteor showers.

The particles causing the emergence of a meteor represent an interesting class of astronomical objects. The names given to them actually change, depending on the place of their location. For example, during movement in a space, particles are called meteoroids. When they enter into Earth’s atmosphere, they are referred to as meteors. If their size is rather big to reach and hit the Earth’s surface, they are called meteorites.

Though there are meteoroids, which rotate around the Sun alone, there are also other bolides, which travel in meteoroid clouds. Objects from meteoroid groups move in an orbit of a comet or an extinct comet. In the 19th century, astronomers found out that comets spill with particles each time they pass near the Sun. There are some comets, which orbits are located very close to the orbit of Earth, and in a certain period of each year, our planet passes through a cloud of such particles that leads to a meteor showe.

The meteor shower (meteor rain) is set of meteors, which occur in the Earth’s atmosphere, meeting with a meteor swarm. The latter consists of meteoric bodies, which move on close orbits; they are connected by common origin, for example, they can be separated from a certain comet. Moreover, meteor shower can sometimes refer to a meteor swarm, which generates a meteor stream. Basically, the ‘falling stars’ or meteor rain can be called a meteor stream, which has a high intensity (up to a thousand meteors per hour).

The meeting of Earth with meteor showers occurs when the orbit of meteors crosses a terrestrial orbit. In the closed swarm, the meteor shower can be observed every year, approximately when the planet passes a point of intersection. The observation can be done by means of a telescope. Time of observation over meteors depends on the age of a stream. When a single meteorite falls down to Earth, a crater is formed; when numerous meteorites hit the Earth, they may form a crater field. In certain cases, small meteoroids burn down without residue, and without having reached a terrestrial surface. Often, when falling, space objects break into separate bodies; therefore, transforming into meteor shower.

When Earth meets a meteoroid stream, it is possible to observe meteorites, which have almost parallel trajectory in the atmosphere. These trajectories look as though leaving from only one certain point of the sky; this point is called a radiant. The names of meteor streams are given depending on constellations, in which their radiant points are located, or are guided by the nearest and brightest star. The most interesting meteor showers are called the Perseids (observed from August 5 to August 18), Lyrids (observed from April 20 to April 24), Orionids (observed from October 20 to October 24), Leonids (observed from November 15 to November 17), the Geminids (observed from December 10 to December 16), and some others.

The main part of meteor showers does not have big spatial density of their particles in a swarm; they move towards the Earth and, therefore, have relatively high speed. As a result, even many small particles can generate meteorites, which are available for supervision. Some meteorites are called sporadic, i.e. casual, but they can belong to the weak, but not revealed streams. Earth can sometimes meet with very dense parts of meteor swarms; when it happens, it is possible to observe intermittent meteor showers, lasting 1-2 hours. Such a phenomenon occurs several times in a century.

It should be noted that a meteorite is directly a solid object of a space origin (rock or iron), which may fall to a planet’s surface, a meteor, unlike a meteorite, is not an object itself, but the phenomenon of a shining trace from the burning in the atmosphere of small meteoroids, for example, fragments of comets or asteroids. Respectively, meteor stream and meteor shower are different things. The meteor stream consists of meteors, which burn down in the atmosphere and do not reach Earth, while meteor shower consists of meteorites, which fall to Earth.

A meteor shower can be observed during any time of the night; however, more meteors will become visible after midnight. The reason is simple, and it is connected with the Earth’s rotation. After a sunset, people are basically on a trailing edge of the planet, as it moves around the Sun. Any meteors, which are visible, have to catch up with Earth, but many meteors move slower than the planet, and do not catch up with it at all. After midnight, observers are on a leading edge of the planet, as it rotates around the Sun. Thus, at this time, it is possible to observe both slow and fast particles entering the Earth’s atmosphere at much higher speed than before midnight. Higher speed also means that meteors will be brighter. Therefore, it is possible to see more meteors, and they will be brighter during pre-dawn hours.

Today, meteor shower causes delight and at the same time fear among the inhabitants of planet Earth. However, for experts and fan astronomers, meteor shower is one of the most interesting phenomena for supervision and investigations. Meteor showers were often interpreted as divine signs (either as favorable or negative). The ‘rain of fire’ often caused fear, and also various superstitious and mystical feelings.

The article was written by professional writer Lola Nickson, more her papers you can find simply following the link of paper land writing service.