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    Meteor and Meteor Shower

    Meteors are bright trails of light in the sky when interplanetary particles or meteorites enter the Earth's atmosphere at high speed and burn in friction.

    Sometimes, many meteors streak across the sky with similar trajectories forming meteor showers. These meteors appear to emanate from the same point in the sky. Meteor showers typically last a few hours to a few days and recur every year though with varying intensities.

    Meteor Shower and Comet

    A comet keeps on ejecting its materials especially when it comes near the Sun.  Some debris will stay near the comet's orbit forming an elliptical ring of meteor stream. 

    If the Earth's revolution around the Sun intersects the orbit of a comet, the Earth will traverse the meteor stream left by the comet about the same time every year. Some debris of the comet will enter the Earth's atmosphere under gravitational pull and become meteor showers.

    Major Meteor Streams

    Name

    Time to observe

    Associated Comets and their periods in years

    Lyrids Meteor Stream

    April

    1861 I (416)

    Aquarids Meteor Stream

    May

    Halley (76)

    Perseids Meteor Stream

    July to August

    1862 III (105)

    Orionids Meteor Stream

    October

    Halley (76)

    Taurids Meteor Stream

    October to November

    Encke (3)

    Leonids Meteor Stream

    November

    Tempel-Tuttle (33)

    Geminids Meteor Stream

    December

    *

    *The Geminids Meteor Stream is the remnant of an asteroid Phaethon. The generation of this meteor stream is similar to those generated from comets.

     

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