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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