Meteor Facts - All about Meteors

Observing meteors in the sky is one of the fun experience for beginner astronomer. You’ll be able to view meteor showers without using any telescope. But If you want to get more details then you can use small optical telescope or large optical telescope to view them. But it’s fun to spot them without using any telescope. If you’re away from city lights then meteor showers will be easily viewable and you’ll spot many meteors in the sky.

What are Meteors ?

Meteors are space particles that enters the earth’s atmosphere and vaporize. Outside the earth’s atmosphere they’re known as meteoroids and once they enter earth’s atmosphere they’re called as meteors. They last for very small amount of time and sometimes you’ll be able to see few that light up the whole sky. Meteors are known to appear in mesosphere and are visible between 40 to 75 miles.

Facts on Meteors

• More than million meteorites fall to earth everyday, some are too small to cause any harm.
• Meteorites are also known as falling star or shooting star.
• Speed of meteorites is very fast (some are known to enter earth’s atmosphere with speed of 130,000 miles per hour.)
• Meteorites are classified as : Stony, Iron and Stony-iron.
• Meteorites contain some of the minerals which are not found on the earth. They’re also known to contain oldest rock in our solar system.
• Meteorites which are recovered after being observed as they impacted the earth are called as falls while other meteorites are called finds.
• In south Africa, all the find meteorites are protected under national heritage law and are supposed to surrender to national authority.
• Some people sell meteorites on ebay (people who are interested in magic stuff, astronomy usually buy it).
• Meteorites are named based on the region in which the fall occurred.

Perseids Meteor Shower

Perseids meteor shower is one of the oldest meteor shower that has been observed on earth. Every year from mid-July in the skies above the northern hemisphere Perseid meteor showers are visible. Perseid meteor shower has peak activity at the start of the august. Perseid showers are named after greek mythological term “perseides”. Some people even refer to Perseid showers as “ Tears of st.Lawrence". Perseid are so-called because they appear to originate from the constellation Perseus.

If you’re interested in observing deep sky objects and meteors then you need to drive away from the city lights. Find a place where you can get dark, secluded spot to get clear view of the sky.