Meteor shower
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2024) |
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of
Historical developments
A meteor shower in August 1583 was recorded in the
In the modern era, the first great meteor storm was theThe actual nature of meteors was still debated during the 19th century. Meteors were conceived as an atmospheric phenomenon by many scientists (
In 1981, Donald K. Yeomans of the
In 1985, E. D. Kondrat'eva and E. A. Reznikov of Kazan State University first correctly identified the years when dust was released which was responsible for several past Leonid meteor storms. In 1995, Peter Jenniskens predicted the 1995 Alpha Monocerotids outburst from dust trails.[17] In anticipation of the 1999 Leonid storm, Robert H. McNaught,[18] David Asher,[19] and Finland's Esko Lyytinen were the first to apply this method in the West.[20][21] In 2006 Jenniskens published predictions for future dust trail encounters covering the next 50 years.[22] Jérémie Vaubaillon continues to update predictions based on observations each year for the Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides (IMCCE).[23]
Radiant point
Because meteor shower particles are all traveling in parallel paths and at the same velocity, they will appear to an observer below to radiate away from a single point in the sky. This radiant point is caused by the effect of perspective, similar to parallel railroad tracks converging at a single vanishing point on the horizon. Meteor showers are normally named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. This "fixed point" slowly moves across the sky during the night due to the Earth turning on its axis, the same reason the stars appear to slowly march across the sky. The radiant also moves slightly from night to night against the background stars (radiant drift) due to the Earth moving in its orbit around the Sun. See IMO Meteor Shower Calendar 2017 (International Meteor Organization) for maps of drifting "fixed points."
When the moving radiant is at the highest point, it will reach the observer's sky that night. The Sun will be just clearing the eastern horizon. For this reason, the best viewing time for a meteor shower is generally slightly before dawn — a compromise between the maximum number of meteors available for viewing and the brightening sky, which makes them harder to see.
Naming
Meteor showers are named after the nearest constellation, or bright star with a Greek or Roman letter assigned that is close to the radiant position at the peak of the shower, whereby the grammatical
Origin of meteoroid streams
A meteor shower results from an interaction between a planet, such as Earth, and streams of debris from a
Each time a comet swings by the Sun in its orbit, some of its ice vaporizes, and a certain number of meteoroids will be shed. The meteoroids spread out along the entire trajectory of the comet to form a meteoroid stream, also known as a "dust trail" (as opposed to a comet's "gas tail" caused by the tiny particles that are quickly blown away by solar radiation pressure).
Recently, Peter Jenniskens[22] has argued that most of our short-period meteor showers are not from the normal water vapor drag of active comets, but the product of infrequent disintegrations, when large chunks break off a mostly dormant comet. Examples are the Quadrantids and Geminids, which originated from a breakup of asteroid-looking objects, (196256) 2003 EH1 and 3200 Phaethon, respectively, about 500 and 1000 years ago. The fragments tend to fall apart quickly into dust, sand, and pebbles and spread out along the comet's orbit to form a dense meteoroid stream, which subsequently evolves into Earth's path.
Dynamical evolution of meteoroid streams
Shortly after Whipple predicted that dust particles traveled at low speeds relative to the comet, Milos Plavec was the first to offer the idea of a dust trail, when he calculated how meteoroids, once freed from the comet, would drift mostly in front of or behind the comet after completing one orbit. The effect is simple celestial mechanics – the material drifts only a little laterally away from the comet while drifting ahead or behind the comet because some particles make a wider orbit than others.[22] These dust trails are sometimes observed in comet images taken at mid infrared wavelengths (heat radiation), where dust particles from the previous return to the Sun are spread along the orbit of the comet (see figures).
The gravitational pull of the planets determines where the dust trail would pass by Earth orbit, much like a gardener directing a hose to water a distant plant. Most years, those trails would miss the Earth altogether, but in some years, the Earth is showered by meteors. This effect was first demonstrated from observations of the 1995 alpha Monocerotids,[25][26] and from earlier not widely known identifications of past Earth storms.
Over more extended periods, the dust trails can evolve in complicated ways. For example, the orbits of some repeating comets, and meteoroids leaving them, are in
A second effect is a close encounter with a planet. When the meteoroids pass by Earth, some are accelerated (making wider orbits around the Sun), others are decelerated (making shorter orbits), resulting in gaps in the dust trail in the next return (like opening a curtain, with grains piling up at the beginning and end of the gap). Also, Jupiter's perturbation can dramatically change sections of the dust trail, especially for a short period comets, when the grains approach the giant planet at their furthest point along the orbit around the Sun, moving most slowly. As a result, the trail has a clumping, a braiding or a tangling of crescents, of each release of material.
The third effect is that of radiation pressure which will push less massive particles into orbits further from the Sun – while more massive objects (responsible for bolides or fireballs) will tend to be affected less by radiation pressure. This makes some dust trail encounters rich in bright meteors, others rich in faint meteors. Over time, these effects disperse the meteoroids and create a broader stream. The meteors we see from these streams are part of annual showers, because Earth encounters those streams every year at much the same rate.
When the meteoroids collide with other meteoroids in the
Famous meteor showers
Perseids and Leonids
In most years, the most visible meteor shower is the Perseids, which peak on 12 August of each year at over one meteor per minute. NASA has a tool to calculate how many meteors per hour are visible from one's observing location.
The Leonid meteor shower peaks around 17 November of each year. The Leonid shower produces a meteor storm, peaking at rates of thousands of meteors per hour. Leonid storms gave birth to the term meteor shower when it was first realised that, during the November 1833 storm, the meteors radiated from near the star Gamma Leonis. The last Leonid storms were in 1999, 2001 (two), and 2002 (two). Before that, there were storms in 1767, 1799, 1833, 1866, 1867, and 1966. When the Leonid shower is not storming, it is less active than the Perseids.
See the Infographics on Meteor Shower Calendar-2021 on the right.
Other meteor showers
Established meteor showers
Official names are given in the International Astronomical Union's list of meteor showers.[27]
Shower | Time | Parent object |
---|---|---|
Quadrantids | early January | The same as the parent object of minor planet 2003 EH1,[28] and Comet C/1490 Y1.[29][30] Comet C/1385 U1 has also been studied as a possible source.[31]
|
Lyrids | late April | Comet Thatcher
|
Pi Puppids (periodic) | late April | Comet 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup |
Eta Aquariids | early May | Comet 1P/Halley
|
Arietids | mid-June | Comet 96P/Machholz, Marsden and Kracht comet groups complex[1][32] |
Beta Taurids | late June | Comet 2P/Encke
|
June Bootids (periodic) | late June | Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke
|
Southern Delta Aquariids | late July | Comet 96P/Machholz, Marsden and Kracht comet groups complex[1][32] |
Alpha Capricornids | late July | Comet 169P/NEAT[33] |
Perseids | mid-August | Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle
|
Kappa Cygnids | mid-August | Minor planet 2008 ED69[34] |
Aurigids (periodic) | early September | Comet C/1911 N1 (Kiess)[35] |
Draconids (periodic) | early October | Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
|
Orionids | late October | Comet 1P/Halley
|
Southern Taurids
|
early November | Comet 2P/Encke
|
Northern Taurids
|
mid-November | Minor planet 2004 TG10 and others[1][36] |
Andromedids (periodic) | mid-November | Comet 3D/Biela[37]
|
Alpha Monocerotids (periodic) | mid-November | unknown[38] |
Leonids | mid-November | Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
|
Phoenicids (periodic) | early December | Comet 289P/Blanpain[39] |
Geminids | mid-December | Minor planet 3200 Phaethon[40] |
Ursids | late December | Comet 8P/Tuttle[41] |
Canis-Minorids |
Extraterrestrial meteor showers
Any other Solar System body with a reasonably transparent atmosphere can also have meteor showers. As the Moon is in the neighborhood of Earth it can experience the same showers, but will have its own phenomena due to its lack of an atmosphere per se, such as vastly increasing its sodium tail.[42] NASA now maintains an ongoing database of observed impacts on the moon[43] maintained by the Marshall Space Flight Center whether from a shower or not.
Many planets and moons have impact craters dating back large spans of time. But new craters, perhaps even related to meteor showers are possible. Mars, and thus its moons, is known to have meteor showers.[44] These have not been observed on other planets as yet but may be presumed to exist. For Mars in particular, although these are different from the ones seen on Earth because of the different orbits of Mars and Earth relative to the orbits of comets. The Martian atmosphere has less than one percent of the density of Earth's at ground level, at their upper edges, where meteoroids strike; the two are more similar. Because of the similar air pressure at altitudes for meteors, the effects are much the same. Only the relatively slower motion of the meteoroids due to increased distance from the sun should marginally decrease meteor brightness. This is somewhat balanced because the slower descent means that Martian meteors have more time to ablate.[45]
On March 7, 2004, the panoramic camera on
Isolated massive impacts have been observed at Jupiter: The 1994 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 which formed a brief trail as well, and successive events since then (see List of Jupiter events.) Meteors or meteor showers have been discussed for most of the objects in the Solar System with an atmosphere: Mercury,[47] Venus,[48] Saturn's moon Titan,[49] Neptune's moon Triton,[50] and Pluto.[51]
See also
- American Meteor Society (AMS)
- Earth-grazing fireball
- International Meteor Organization (IMO)
- List of meteor showers
- Meteor procession
- North American Meteor Network (NAMN)
- Radiant – point in the sky from which meteors appear to originate
- Zenith hourly rate(ZHR)
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-85349-1.
- ^ Meteor Data Center list of Meteor Showers
- ^ St. Fleur, Nicholas, "The Quadrantids and Other Meteor Showers That Will Light Up Night Skies in 2018", The New York Times, January 2, 2018
- ^ NASA Meteor Shower Portal
- ISBN 978-1-4020-6638-2.
- ^ Abraham, Curtis. "Stars of the Sahara". New Scientist, issue 2617,15 August 2007, page 39–41
- ISBN 978-1-4767-7743-6.
- ^ Space.com The 1833 Leonid Meteor Shower: A Frightening Flurry
- ^ Leonid MAC Brief history of the Leonid shower
- ^ Olmsted, Denison (1833). "Observations on the Meteors of November 13th, 1833". The American Journal of Science and Arts. 25: 363–411. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- The American Journal of Science and Arts. 29 (1): 168–170.
- ^ Observing the Leonids Archived 2013-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Gary W. Kronk
- ^ F.W. Russell, Meteor Watch Organizer, by Richard Taibi, May 19, 2013, accessed 21 May 2013
- .
- ^ https://web.archive.org
- ^ Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and the Leonid Meteors Archived 2007-06-30 at the Wayback Machine(1996, see p. 6)
- doi:10.1086/303853.
- ^ Re: (meteorobs) Leonid Storm? Archived 2007-03-07 at the Wayback Machine By Rob McNaught,
- ^ Blast from the Past Armagh Observatory press release Archived 2006-12-06 at the Wayback Machine 1999 April 21st.
- ^ Royal Astronomical Society Press Notice Ref. PN 99/27, Issued by: Dr Jacqueline Mitton RAS Press Officer
- ^ Voyage through a comet's trail, The 1998 Leonids sparkled over Canada By BBC Science's Dr Chris Riley on board NASA's Leonid mission
- ^ a b c Jenniskens P. (2006). Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 790 pp.
- ^ IMCCE Prediction page Archived 2012-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
- doi:10.1086/145416.
- ^ Jenniskens P., 1997. Meteor steram activity IV. Meteor outbursts and the reflex motion of the Sun. Astron. Astrophys. 317, 953–961.
- ^ Jenniskens P., Betlem, H., De Lignie, M., Langbroek, M. (1997). The detection of a dust trail in the orbit of an Earth-threatening long-period comet. Astrohys. J. 479, 441–447.
- ^ "List of all meteor showers". International Astronomical Union. 15 August 2015.
- ^
Jenniskens, P. (March 2004). "2003 EH1 is the Quadrantid shower parent comet". Astronomical Journal. 127 (5): 3018–3022. doi:10.1086/383213.
- .
- ^ Haines, Lester, Meteor shower traced to 1490 comet break-up: Quadrantid mystery solved, The Register, January 8, 2008.
- S2CID 119299384.
- ^ doi:10.1086/497374.
- S2CID 59523258.
- S2CID 122768057.
- .
- Bibcode:2006CoSka..36..103P.
- S2CID 18785028.
- doi:10.1086/303853.
- doi:10.1086/432469.
- ^ Brian G. Marsden (1983-10-25). "IAUC 3881: 1983 TB AND THE GEMINID METEORS; 1983 SA; KR Aur". International Astronomical Union Circular. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
- .
- .
- ^ "Lunar Impacts". NASA. Archived from the original on 2023-03-15.
- ^ "Meteor showers at Mars". Archived from the original on 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
- ^ "Can Meteors Exist at Mars?". Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
- ^ "Meteor Showers and their Parent Bodies". Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
- hdl:2060/20150010116.
- S2CID 54709255.
- ^ Lakdawalla, Emily. "Meteor showers on Titan: an example of why Twitter is awesome for scientists and the public". Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- Note also the
- ^ Watching meteors on Triton Archived 2014-03-27 at the Wayback Machine, W. Dean Pesnell, J.M. Grebowsky, and Andrew L. Weisman, Icarus, issue 169, (2004) pp. 482–491
- ^ IR Flashes induced by meteoroid impacts onto Pluto's surface, by I.B. Kosarev, I. V. Nemtchinov, Microsymposium, vol. 36, MS 050, 2002
External links
- Meteor Showers, by Sky and Telescope
- Six Not-So-Famous Summer Meteor Showers Joe Rao (SPACE.com)
- The American Meteor Society
- The International Meteor Organisation
- Meteor Shower Portal shows the direction of active showers each night on a celestial sphere.