Meteor Shower Pronunciation Guide

By Space.com Staff
published

Meteor showers are formed by comets and asteroids that come close to the Sun. Heat from the Sun causes dust and rock to break off the body and gather into a collection of debris that moves along the body's orbital path. If Earth's orbit crosses this path, there is a meteor shower as the dust particles vaporize in Earth's atmosphere, about 90 km above Earth's surface.

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.