Nasa Meteor Showers

11 12 said bill cooke with nasa s meteoroid environments office in huntsville alabama.

Nasa meteor showers. 22 38 tue aug 11 2020. One of the year s best meteor showers is well underway as a new video shows. Nasa jpl caltech perseid meteor shower quiz.

Plan ahead here are dates of major meteor showers. Meteor showers are named for the constellation where the meteors appear to be coming from. Perseid meteor shower to peak overnight the light of the moon will reduce the visibility of some fainter meteors but nasa says it s still worth staying up late or rising very very early on.

Peak viewing times will vary by a day or two each year. If you re patient and you don t mind sacrificing a few hours of sleep you may be treated to some celestial fireworks this week. Select the meteor shower in the menu to see the corresponding meteoroid stream in space.

Every perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the comet swift tuttle which swings by the sun every 135 years. By sean martin published. Their meteoroid orbits are based on those measured by nasa s cams video camera surveillance network and were calculated by meteor astronomer peter jenniskens of the seti institute and nasa ames research center.

Nasa s all sky fireball network captured perseid meteors streaking overhead on saturday and sunday aug. The perseid meteor shower is set to peak tonight and nasa are offering you the chance the best view of the shooting stars. Under perfect conditions rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour.

Meteor showers are usually named after a star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear in the sky. Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. Some meteor showers occur annually or at regular intervals as the earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a comet and in a few cases asteroids.