Meteors Now and Again
Credit & Copyright: S. Molau & P. Jenniskens
(NASA
/Ames)
Explanation:
The
Perseid Meteor Shower, usually the
best meteor shower of the year,
will peak over the next two nights.
Over the course of an hour,
a person watching a clear sky from a dark
location might see as many as 100 meteors.
These meteors
are actually specs of rock that have broken off
Comet Swift-Tuttle
and continue to orbit the Sun.
This year, however, the
Perseids may only be second best.
In November the Earth is predicted to move through a
denser stream of
Comet Tempel-Tuttle debris,
possibly causing greater than 10,000 meteors per hour
visible at some locations.
Pictured above is the
alpha-Monocerotid meteor outburst of 1995.
This is the last week to
send your name to a comet with NASA's planned
Stardust mission.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
