We all know about the big meteor showers such as the Geminids and Perseids, but Earth is also bombarded by much smaller meteors every night. Knowing more about these tiny pieces of space dust helps us to analyse meteor showers, sporadic meteors and fireballs, as well as increasing our knowledge of the risk to Earth from larger debris. For example, consider ‘orbital resonance’, which occurs when orbiting bodies exert periodic gravitational influence on each other: research has shown that fireballs from one branch of the Southern Taurid meteor shower debris stream are in 7:2 resonance with Jupiter. This supports a theory that asteroid impacts on Earth are not totally random and appear to have resonances too. Meteor analysis is vital to help our understanding of such potential risks.
One way…
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The Astronomer's Yearbook (Digital) - 1 Issue, Astronomer's Yearbook 2022