Explanation: Does the Earth ever pass through a wind of meteors? Yes, and they are frequently visible as meteor showers. Almost all meteors are sand-sized debris that escaped from a Sun-orbiting comet or asteroid, debris that continues in an elongated orbit around the Sun. Circling the same Sun, our Earth can move through an orbiting debris stream, where it can appear, over time, as a meteor wind. The meteors that light up in Earth's atmosphere, however, are usually destroyed. Their streaks, though, can all be traced back to a single point on the sky called the radiant. The featured image composite was taken over two days in late July near the ancient Berber village Zriba El Alia in Tunisia, during the peak of the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower. The radiant is to the right of the image. A few days ago our Earth experienced the peak of a more famous meteor wind -- the Perseids.

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Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr'

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: meteor shower - meteornyi dozhd' Publikacii so slovami: meteor shower - meteornyi dozhd'
Sm. takzhe: Severnye Kvadrantidy Geminidy nad kitaiskim ozerom Nianhu Orionidy v Tel'ce Pyl' komety Galleya, pyl' Marsa i Mlechnyi Put' Pyl' komety Galleya za sem' let Tau-Gerkulidy iz kosmosa Meteory iz potoka Tau-Gerkulidy nad teleskopami Kitt-Pik Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>