Meteors and Meteor Showers

Spaced
Aug 16, 2023
2 min read

A meteor is a space rock or a meteoroid that enters the Earth’s atmosphere. When the space rock falls into Earth, the resistance of the air on the stone makes it extremely hot, making us see what we call, “shooting stars”. When the Earth encounters these “space rocks” at once, we call it a meteor shower.

Image: nasa.gov

Why would so many meteoroids fall into the Earth’s atmosphere?

Like how many planets and other celestial objects orbit around the Sun, the comets orbit too. However, their orbits are a little lop-sided than the usual planetary orbits we are familiar with. Due to the sun’s heat, these comets boil off as they get closer to the massive ball of gas, leaving many particles of dust and rock (comet debris). Several times each year as the earth makes its way around the sun, its orbit crosses that of the comet’s, giving us a splendid view of the meteor shower.

So, what we see is the comet debris!

How large is a meteoroid?

Asteroids and meteoroids are small space rocks about millimetres in size. An asteroid is usually 1m in diameter but a meteoroid is 2mm-1m in size.

Meteoroid in Namibia

A meteorite falls in Southern Africa! The Hoba meteorite hit the Earth’s surface in Namibia about 80,000 years ago and remains in the same place. It is known to be the largest meteorite ever found on planet Earth weighing about 60 tons, area of 2.95 x 2.85 m, and being as tall as 122 cm. It consists of 82.4% iron, 16.4% nickel, and some trace elements like cobalt.

A farmer called Jacobus Hermanus Brits found it at the Hoba Farm in the Otavi Mountains when he was ploughing his field. In March 1995, the Hoba Meteorite was declared a national monument. In 1987, the meteorite's immediate vicinity was donated to the National Monuments Council.

Perseids meteor shower

109P/Swift-Tuttle comet

The Perseids originate from the comet, Swift-Tuttle. Comet Swift-Tuttle was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle. It takes about 133 years to orbit the Sun.

The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere create the popular meteor shower, Perseids. This annual meteor shower takes place each August and peaks mid-month. Giovanni Schiaparelli realised in 1865 that this comet was the source of the Perseids.

Image: stellarium app

Spaced

Team Spaced had brought its members and other astronomy enthusiasts to the Al Quaa-Milkyway location to observe the Perseids and set up the telescope to view the moon and learn about the meteors and meteoroids in the sky. The gathering was an overwhelming success. Additionally, we were able to take some lovely photos and discover more about the Hoba, the largest meteorite on Earth.

We are grateful to the team's founding members for this exceptional chance.