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A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.
The October Draconids, in the past also unofficially known as the Giacobinids, are a Northern hemisphere meteor shower whose parent body is the periodic comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. They are named after the constellation Draco, where they seemingly come from. Almost all meteors which fall towards Earth ablate long before reaching its surface ...
Meteor paths appear at random locations in the sky, but the apparent paths of two or more meteors from the same shower will diverge from the radiant. The radiant is the vanishing point of the meteor paths, which are parallel lines in three-dimensional space, as seen from the perspective of the observer, who views a two-dimensional projection ...
The Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to orbit the sun. Each year, the Earth passes through debris left behind by the comet, creating the meteor shower.
Fast meteors can leave glowing trails that last for several seconds to minutes and can sometimes even become fireballs. When viewing the Orionid meteor shower, look for prolonged explosions of light.
The Arietids, along with the Zeta Perseids, are the most intense daylight meteor showers of the year. [3] The source of the shower is unknown, but scientists suspect that they come from the asteroid 1566 Icarus , [ 3 ] [ 4 ] although the orbit also corresponds similarly to 96P/Machholz .
Our solar system is full of floating space debris: Comets, meteors, asteroids and more. What are the differences that make up these various space rocks?
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle that are usually visible from mid-July to late-August.The meteors are called the Perseids because they appear from the general direction of the constellation Perseus and in more modern times have a radiant bordering on Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis.