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In this video, we will learn about the real name for shooting stars: meteors! We will learn all about these fiery rocks. More specifically, we will learn that meteors have a few different names depending on where they are on their journey to the earth's surface. They start out as meteoroids. Meteoroids are pieces of metal or rock that break off comets or asteroids when they crash into each other in space.
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Even small meteors can cause significant damage
They are not actually called meteors until they begin to fall toward Earth's atmosphere! Then, if they make it through, they get a new name again once they've landed somewhere on the earth: meteorites. Your student(s) will learn about the both the biggest and oldest meteorites that have been discovered. The largest meteorite is named Hoba, which means gift, located in Namibia, Africa. It weighs 60 tons, which is 120,000 pounds! And the oldest meteorite is named the Fukang Meteorite. It was discovered near Fukang, China, and is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old. That means that it is about the same age, or even older, than our planet! We will also love learning about meteor showers. Meteor showers can be predicted throughout the year. It looks like hundreds or even thousands of shooting stars falling from the sky.
Exploring the World of Meteors
What Is a Meteor Shower?
What Is a Meteor Shower?
If it's time for a meteor shower, you won't need a telescope, binoculars, or a high mountain to have a "star gazing" party. You might need a warm sleeping bag and an alarm clock to wake you in the middle of the night. But then just lying down in your own back yard will put you in the perfect spot to enjoy a great show.
Meteors
A meteor is a space rock—or meteoroid—that enters Earth's atmosphere. As the space rock falls toward Earth, the resistance—or drag—of the air on the rock makes it extremely hot. What we see is a "shooting star." That bright streak is not actually the rock, but rather the glowing hot air as the hot rock zips through the atmosphere.
When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a meteor shower.
Why would Earth encounter many meteoroids at once?
Well, comets, like Earth and the other planets, also orbit the sun. Unlike the nearly circular orbits of the planets, the orbits of comets are usually quite lop-sided.
As a comet gets closer to the sun, some of its icy surface boils off, releasing lots of particles of dust and rock. This comet debris gets strewn out along the comet's path, especially in the inner solar system (where we live) as the sun's heat boils off more and more ice and debris. Then, several times each year as Earth makes its journey around the sun, its orbit crosses the orbit of a comet, which means Earth smacks into a bunch of comet debris.
But not to worry!
But not to worry!
The meteoroids are usually small, from dust particle to boulder size. They are almost always small enough to quickly burn up in our atmosphere, so there's little chance any of them will strike Earth's surface. But there is a good chance that you can see a beautiful shooting star show in the middle of the night!
In the case of a meteor shower, the glowing streaks may appear anywhere in the sky, but their "tails" all seem to point back to the same spot in the sky. That's because all the meteors are coming at us at the same angle, and as they get closer to Earth the effect of perspective makes them seem to get farther apart. It's like standing in the middle of railroad tracks and seeing how the two tracks come together in the distance.
Meteor showers are named for the constellation where the meteors appear to be coming from. So, for example, the Orionids Meteor Shower, which occurs in October each year, appear to be originating near the constellation Orion the Hunter.
Plan Ahead
Plan Ahead
Here are dates of major meteor showers. Peak viewing times will vary by a day or two each year. Keep in mind: If the moon is full or near full, you may not see many meteors. Some years are better than others for numbers of meteors per hour.
Quadrantids December/January
Lyrids April
Perseids August
Orionids October
Leonids November
Geminids December
Meteors
Appearance: Meteors can appear in a variety of colors, depending on the composition of the meteoroid. Most meteors are white or yellow, but some can be green, red, or blue. They can also leave behind a glowing trail of dust and gas, which can last for a few seconds or even minutes.
Speed: Meteors can travel at speeds of up to 70,000 kilometers per hour! This is much faster than the speed of sound, which is why meteors often make a loud sonic boom as they streak through the sky.
Frequency: On average, you can see about 5-10 meteors per hour on any given night from a dark location. However, during meteor showers, you may be able to see hundreds of meteors per hour!
Meteor showers: Some of the most famous meteor showers include the Perseids, which peak in August, the Geminids, which peak in December, and the Orionids, which peak in October. These meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the debris field of a comet. The comet's dust and ice particles burn up in Earth's atmosphere, creating the streaks of light that we see as meteors.
Additional facts about meteors
Most meteors are very small, about the size of a pea.
The largest meteor ever recorded was the Chelyabinsk meteor, which exploded over Russia in 2013. It was about 20 meters in diameter and injured over 1,500 people.
Meteorites are pieces of meteors that survive their journey through Earth's atmosphere and land on the ground.
Scientists study meteors and meteorites to learn more about the composition of the solar system and the origins of the Earth.
Famous People
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Did You Know?
Venus is the hottest planet. Although Mercury is the planet closest to the sun, Venus has the highest temperature due to the gases in its atmosphere. A Greenhouse Effect maintains its constant temperature of 430°C.
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