Meteor Showers

A meteor shower occurs when the trail of interplanetary debris, like the one left behind by comets or asteroids, enters the Earth's atmosphere. The interplanetary debris is mostly made up of space rocks, also called meteoroids. As the meteoroids fall toward Earth, they produce drag throughout the rock. This causes the meteoroid to heat up. The streak of intense light we see is the hot air left behind the burning rock. When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a meteor shower. Meteor showers are usually named for the constellation in which their radiant appears. The most common and famous meteor showers are Perseus Leonid Geminids and Lyra's. However; it is estimated that there are around 21 meteor showers every year, with most of them occurring between August and December. Meteors enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds ranging from 25,000 miles per hour to 160,000 miles per hour. It's frightening to imagine all that interplanetary debris flying toward us. Cameras around the world have captured meteors falling from the sky and although some eventually hit, most of them disintegrate or burn off. The remaining pieces fall into the ocean.