All About Meteors

A meteor shower is a spectacular sight to see, but what exactly causes it? Though often referred to as a shooting star, a meteor is not a star at all. Meteors are actually fallen debris from a comet.

At night, a meteor shower is visible to us as quick streaks of light. Meteor showers occur as the debris traveling in the path of its parent comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The heat produced by the ram pressure upon atmospheric entry is what creates the streak of light. Most meteors are destroyed during this process. Those that make the journey all the way to the ground are known as meteorites.

While meteors can often be seen any night, there are certain times of year where the rate of visible meteors is much higher. Commonly occurring every year or so, a meteor shower or meteor storm can be predicted right down to the peak viewing hours.

Depending on where the meteoroid stream meets the Earth, meteors will appear to fall from one particular region in the sky. This is why a meteor shower is often named by the constellation from which its meteors appear to fall. For example, the Perseid meteor shower was named after the constellation Perseus because its meteors appear to be falling from a point in this particular region of the sky.

A meteor shower is best experienced far outside any large city, away from bright lights. For more information on meteors or a meteor shower in particular, simply choose any meteor article or other interactive meteor feature below.