Q 01/05

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

A) Micronovae

B) Meteorites

C) Asteroids

D) Meteoroids

Answer · why

D) Meteoroids

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

Q 02/05

Meteor showers are normally named after what?

A) The astronomer who discovered them

B) The month they peak in

C) Their parent comet

D) The constellation of their radiant

Answer · why

D) The constellation of their radiant

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

Q 03/05

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

A) The apex

B) The nadir

C) The radiant

D) The zenith

Answer · why

C) The radiant

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

Q 04/05

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

A) A meteor cascade

B) A meteor storm

C) A meteor burst

D) A meteor tempest

Answer · why

B) A meteor storm

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

Q 05/05

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

A) 1833

B) 1866

C) 1799

D) 1901

Answer · why

A) 1833

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.