What causes a meteor shower?

Meteor showers are born from the remnants of comets

When a comet travels close to the Sun, it begins to melt and form the spectacular tails that can be seen from Earth. The gas and dust in these tails is left behind once the comet passes, creating a stream of particles in orbit around the Sun. Earth’s orbit crosses some of these streams – when it does, the particles strike the atmosphere at a speed great enough for the air around the meteoroid to superheat and glow. This bright light streaking across the sky is what we know as a meteor. However, the heat causes the outer layers of the meteoroid to burn up and often, by the time the friction of the air has slowed the space rock down, there’s nothing left of the meteoroid except dust. Only…

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The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 (Digital) - 1 Issue, Astronomer's Yearbook 2020

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