Meteors Rock!
Here we look at Meteors, those little chunks of debris that float around in space and sometimes graze the atmosphere and light up the sky or hit planets, moons or other solid bodies forming craters on the surface. They range in size from a speck of dust to as big as a house. Asteroids tend to be larger and have a nice regular orbit, where meteors generally have a more random trajectory.
Meteor Showers are caused by dust and debris trails of Comets. When a planet (Earth) passes through one of these trails or "cosmic dust clouds", the tiny bits graze the atmosphere and light up the sky. Usually they are too small to withstand the heat caused by the friction with the atmosphere and harmlessly burn up, never reaching the ground.
Photo Credit: Mark Brown of Alabama
Major Meteorite Showers - Mark Your Calendar!
A list of the major showers and approximate time they occur each year.
the most current, accurate information on Meteor shower dates and times.
Though they've gotten pretty good at narrowing the window to within a few hours, like the weather, predicitons are not always completely reliable as to the intensity of the shower.
Dates are rounded to the nearest five day mark.
- Quadrantids (on or around January 1st)
- Lyrids (on or around April 20th)
- ETA Aquarids (on or around May 5th)
- South Delta Aquarids (on or around July 30th)
- Perseids (on or around August 10th)
- Orionids (on or around October 20th)
- Leonids (on or around November 20th)
- Geminids (on or around December 15th)
- Ursids (on or around December 20)
Reading on Meteors and Meteorites
Geminids Meteor Shower / December 7-17, 2006 (Peak= Dec. 14)
A new moon means great viewing!
From Space.com:
Thursday, 12/14
Geminid Meteors, 6:00 a.m. (3 a.m. By some estimates)
The Moon, which is about two days past Last Quarter, detracts somewhat from the best viewing, but otherwise the timing is pretty good before dawn, when Gemini is high in the western sky. The Geminids are often fast and bright, and can surpass the Perseids of August in number. Although they can be seen in a wide swath of sky, all the meteors from this shower seem to radiate from the constellation Gemini, near the two bright stars Castor and Pollux. [A note on timing: according to the RASC Handbook (http://www.rasc.ca/], the peak is at about 11 hours UT, or about 6 a.m. EST. According to Gary Kronk (http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/december_radiants.html), it is at about 8:19 UT or 3:19 EST. ]
Leonids Meteor Shower
Annual November Skywatching Event
Each year around the 20th of November comes the Leonids Meteor Shower. Debris from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle will light up the night skies as Earth's orbit takes it through the comet's trail. As many as 100 meteors per hour may be seen streaking through th sky. Find a dark place well away from city lights and hope for clear skies.So get out there- bundle up, sit back and enjoy the show!
Meteors Caught on Video
Meteor Links
Calendars, Optimal Viewing Area Maps, Organizations and More!
- Sea & Sky Astronomy Calendar
- Astronomy Calendar page on the excellent user-friendly site by J.D. Knight. Beautifully designed and easy to read.
- SPA - Society for Popular Astronomy Meteor Page
- UK Organization
Meteor activity calendar and viewing for UK - Comets & Meteor Showers
- By Gary W. Kronk
Very nice site! - Wes Stone's 2006 Meteor Shower Page
- Online Observing Log and info on Meteor Activity.
- IMO - International Meteor Organization
- All kinds of information! Observations and
Calendars of major and minor Meteor Showers.
Available in 8 Languages:
English, Russian, French, Spanish, Slovak, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian
Wow. - NAMN - North American Meteor Network
- Observations and Calendars of major and minor Meteor Showers.
- The American Meteor Society
- American Meteor Society, Ltd., a non-profit scientific organization established to encourage and support the research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are interested in the fascinating field of Meteor Astronomy. Our affiliates observe, monitor, collect data on, study, and report on meteors, meteor showers, meteoric fireballs, and related meteoric phenomena.
Loads of great info here too!
Celestial Calendars
Marking Time with Space Photos & Facts
The Lunar Year: A Glow-in-th-Dark 2008 Wall Calendar
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 10/06/2008)
Space: A Photo & Fact Anthology: 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 10/06/2008)
Universe of the Hubble Space Telescope Wall Calendar 2008
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: (as of 10/06/2008)
Space / Earth 2008 Deluxe Wall Calendar
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 10/06/2008)
SPLAT! Meteor Impact Crater
Meteor Crater (a.k.a Barringer Crater) - Arizona, USA
25,000 years ago, a meteor hit what is now Arizona.The meteor that made this crater was only about 20 feet in diameter (about the size of a railroad boxcar), but the impact crater is 1.2 km (about 7/10 mile) in diameter. The intense heat and shock of the impact actually melted rock and sand and turned the ground surrounding the area a lighter color.
This well-preserved crater is relatively new by geologic standards. The arid climate slows the erosion process.
On the Map
You might have to click on "Hybrid" to get the image to show (that combines the road map w/ the satellite image).
Sattelite View: Barringer Crater, Arizona, USA
Formerly known as Diablo Canyon/ Photo: NASA's Landsat Satellite
Terrestrial Impact Craters
- Meteor Crater Impact Map
- Interactive Map of Earth's 50 most obvious meteor craters plotted on a zoomable satellite map.
Way cool! - Earth's Largest & Oldest Crater
- The Vredefort Dome, South Africa
This is the largest & oldest clearly identifiable meteor impact structure. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List
360 Degree Pan of Barringer Crater in Arizona
Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona
A slow 360 panorama of Meteorite Crater located near Flagstaff Arizona. The Barringer Meteorite Crater (also known as "Meteor Crater") is a gigantic hole in the middle of the arid sandstone of the Arizona desert. The crater itself is nearly a mile wide, and 570 feet deep.
Runtime: 0:36
127586 views
10 Comments:
Scoping the Sky
Find a Great Telescope on eBay!
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
NASA News Nuggets
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byHigh Impact
Meteor Impact Site
Some say the meteor that struck the Yucatan peninsula killed off dinosaurs and led to the development of present-day mammals. Rare Earth : TUES JULY 15 10P et/pt : http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/earth-the-biography/
Runtime: 4:25 | 40193 views | 241 Comments
Meteor and Meteorite Library
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites
Somehow with the picture so small, the cover looks like a fly-fishing lure! It is actually a Meteorite in impact.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
To the Moon: Lunar Impact Craters
Meteor Shower & Impact Crater Links
- Lunar Impact Craters
- Geology & Structure, plus some nifty photos, too.
- Meteor Showers from Fields of Knowledge
- Sources recommended by an expert whose research specialty is meteor showers.
Fun Stuff with Meteors- for home, office or wardrobe!
Kids Baseball Jersey
Kid's baseball jersey with cool meteorite design.
Choice of sleeve color: black, navy or red.
Price: 13.99
Mousepad
Striking artwork on a mousepad. Brilliant green meteor shower. (Click the link to see in detail)
Price: 12.99
Was this lens on Meteors helpful to you?
Be sure to visit the next poll, too. Thanks! (Scroll down)
Got something to share? Just a hello?
Thanks for crashing into my Meteor lens!
|
LeslieBrenner
Hurrah, a fellow stargazer! Enjoyed the "splat" section. Posted March 15, 2008 |
|
ThePrancingPony
This is a great lens. I have witnessed the Leonids Meteor Shower in 1998 and ever since have this fascination with the stars and the rest of the universe. 5-stars from me :) Posted May 25, 2007 |
|
Shadox
Excellent lens. You could grab a few meteor movies from YouTube. Welcome to the science lens: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/workshop/groups..science Posted January 07, 2007 |
Crash Landings: How did you find this Lens?
If you enjoyed this lens, please be sure to "show some love in the stars above" to let all of Squidoo-land know how much you liked it. Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by!
If you enjoyed this Lens, you might like these too...
More Astronomy Lenses by me
Transit of Mercury: A Curious EclipseAll About Eclipses: Solar and Lunar
Keep your Eyes on the Skies -
more to come!
Coming Sooon:
Comets: The Original Streakers
