50 Fun Facts About Meteor Showers

What are the particles of cosmic debris that cause meteor showers called?

Most are smaller than a grain of sand and burn up completely, never reaching the ground.

Meteor showers are normally named after what?

The Latin possessive ending is swapped for '-id' or '-ids', so meteors from near Delta Aquarii become the Delta Aquariids.

The point in the sky from which a shower's meteors appear to fan out is called what?

It is a trick of perspective, like parallel railway tracks converging at a vanishing point on the horizon.

A very intense shower producing at least 1,000 meteors an hour is called what?

The Leonids are the most notorious source of them, with some events topping 100,000 meteors an hour.

The first great meteor storm of the modern era occurred in November of which year?

One estimate put the peak at over 100,000 meteors an hour across North America east of the Rockies; Abraham Lincoln remarked on it years later.

Which American scientist correctly explained the great Leonid storm as particles in space radiating from Leo?

He noted the shower was short, was not seen in Europe, and presented his findings to the American Journal of Science in 1834.

Which Italian astronomer showed in 1866 that the Leonids shared an orbit with a comet?

He set out the connection in a series of letters to Angelo Secchi late that year.

Which German scientist proposed in 1794 that meteors came from outer space?

Humboldt was among the initial doubters, since Newton had said space must be empty for planets to keep orbiting.

Who proposed in 1951 that comets are 'dirty snowballs' shedding debris as their ices vaporise?

Comets shed debris each time they swing past the Sun, spreading a dust trail along the whole orbit.

The Lyrids are the oldest recorded meteor shower, with records from which country back to 687 BCE?

Its parent, Comet Thatcher, has an orbital period of about 415 years, and it peaks around April 22.

Why do most meteor showers look better after midnight?

The best compromise is usually shortly before dawn, before the brightening sky hides the fainter meteors.

At what typical altitude range above Earth do shower meteors ionise and glow?

A typical shower meteor is only about 5 micrometres across and starts melting at around 1800 K.

What does a shower's zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) describe?

Perfect skies means stars down to magnitude 6.5 are visible; real rates are almost always lower.

The Perseids are associated with which comet?

Its 133-year orbit sits in an 11:1 resonance with Jupiter, and its 26 km nucleus is unusually large.

The Perseids' parent comet was independently discovered by two American astronomers in which year?

That year it shone as bright as Polaris; Chinese records show it reached magnitude 0.1 in the year 188.

Early calculations once suggested the Perseids' parent comet could hit Earth or the Moon in which year?

Refined orbits show no threat for two thousand years, though a 4479 approach carries a one-in-a-million impact chance.

Some Catholics call the Perseids the 'tears' of which martyr, whose feast falls on August 10?

Folklore says the shooting stars are sparks from his martyrdom, and cooled 'coal of Saint Lawrence' appears under plants that night.

The Perseids' name comes from a Greek word for whom in mythology?

Most of the stream's particles have orbited for about a thousand years, though a young filament shed in 1865 can cause an early mini-peak.

Which comet is the parent of the Leonids?

Its retrograde orbit means Leonids hit the atmosphere head-on at about 70 km/s, the fastest of any annual shower.

Leonid meteor storms recur roughly how often, matching their parent comet's orbital period?

When storms failed to appear in 1899, many assumed the dust had moved on for good, until 1966 proved otherwise.

The 1966 Leonid storm over the Americas peaked at roughly how many meteors per hour?

That works out to more than 40 meteors every second at the height of the display.

Which religious founder wrote that the great 1833 Leonid storm fulfilled scripture and heralded the Second Coming?

Many Native American birthdays were reckoned by reference to the same 1833 event.

The Geminids are unusual because their parent body is not a comet but which asteroid?

It was the first asteroid discovered from spacecraft images, spotted by the IRAS satellite in October 1983.

The Geminids' parent asteroid holds what distinction among named asteroids?

Its perihelion of 0.14 AU is less than half of Mercury's, hence the name of Helios's reckless son.

On what date do the Geminids usually reach their highest intensity?

Rates can hit 120 to 160 meteors an hour, and Geminid particles are notably denser than fluffy cometary dust.

The Geminids were first observed in which year, much later than the ancient Perseids and Leonids?

Perseid sightings go back to 36 AD and Leonid records to 902 AD.

The Quadrantids are named after Quadrans Muralis, a constellation created in 1795 by which astronomer?

It vanished when the IAU fixed the 88 modern constellations in 1922, and the shower now appears to come from northern Boötes.

Why are Quadrantid meteors seen less often than Perseids or Geminids despite a comparable top ZHR?

Rates stay above half maximum for only about eight hours, versus two days for the Perseids, and the meteors are faint.

Peter Jenniskens tentatively identified the Quadrantids' parent body as which minor planet?

It may be related to comet C/1490 Y1, recorded by Chinese, Japanese and Korean astronomers some 500 years ago.

The April Lyrids come from dust shed by which long-period visitor, C/1861 G1?

They are the strongest annual shower from a long-period comet, and outbursts occur roughly once every 60 years.

Which two annual meteor showers are both produced by Halley's Comet?

One occurs at the comet's ascending node in October, the other at its descending node in early May.

Halley's Comet last visited the inner Solar System in 1986; when is it due back?

Its period varies between 72 and 80 years, and Edmond Halley first realised the returns were one comet in 1705.

Which spacecraft made Halley's Comet the first comet observed in detail up close, in March 1986?

The Soviet Vega 1 and Vega 2 probes flew past days earlier in the same month.

The Eta Aquariids peak around which date?

Rather than a sharp peak the shower has a broad week-long maximum, and it is usually two to three times stronger than the Orionids.

Because of their timing in late October and early November, the Taurids are nicknamed what?

They come from Comet Encke and move slowly, at about 28 km/s, but are made of heavier pebble-sized material.

The Taurid stream and Comet Encke are remnants of a ~40 km comet that broke up about how long ago?

The resulting meteoroid stream is the largest in the inner Solar System, so Earth takes weeks to cross it.

The October Draconids, once called the Giacobinids, come from which periodic comet?

Unusually, they are best viewed after sunset rather than before dawn.

The Draconids produced two great 20th-century meteor storms, in 1933 and which other year?

A storm is possible again in October 2098, with hourly rates that could reach 20,000.

The December Ursids radiate from near which star in Ursa Minor?

The shower runs from about December 17 to Christmas and is linked to comet 8P/Tuttle.

The Andromedids, spectacular in 1872 and 1885, came from a parent body that was seen to break apart; which one?

Edmund Weiss predicted in 1868 that Earth would cross the debris in 1872, and the resulting shower cemented the comet-shower link.

The Leonids are the fastest annual shower; at roughly what speed do their meteors hit the atmosphere?

The Taurids are among the slowest at around 27 km/s; Earth itself orbits at 29.8 km/s.

A very bright meteor, especially one that explodes in the atmosphere, is called what?

The word comes via Latin from the Greek for 'missile', and a superbolide of magnitude −17 outshines the full Moon about 51 times.

Roughly how many bits of natural space debris enter Earth's atmosphere every day?

That adds up to an estimated 15,000 tonnes of material a year.

In 2017 the IAU officially defined a meteoroid as an object between 30 micrometres and what upper size?

Anything larger counts as an asteroid; the original 1961 definition just said 'considerably larger than an atom'.

Meteor showers have been directly observed on which other planet besides Earth?

NASA also keeps a database of meteoroid impacts seen on the Moon.

What is the earliest civilisation with records suggesting meteor showers, around 1200 BCE?

Detailed later records survive from China, Japan and Korea, and a 1583 shower appears in the Timbuktu manuscripts.

Finnish astronomer Esko Lyytinen predicted a possible Perseid meteor storm in August of which year?

Peak rates of at least 1,000 meteors per hour are considered possible.

Which asteroid is the parent of the Northern Taurids, possibly a large fragment of Comet Encke?

The Southern Taurids come from Encke itself, and daytime Beta Taurids are active from May to July.

April Lyrid meteors appear to stream from a point near which bright star?

Counts average around 10 an hour, but occasional Lyrid fireballs cast shadows and leave smoky trails.

Of 900+ suspected showers the IAU listed by 2024, roughly how many were established?

NASA maintains a daily map of which showers are active.