Every year, hundreds and thousands of rocky chunks the size of up to a house race into the earth’s atmosphere. But not all meteoroids are as big as the one that exploded above Chelyabinsk in Russia on February 15, 2013 and injured hundreds of people by glass from shattered windows.
The night skies in August bring hundreds and thousands of shooting stars. These meteor showers are called Perseids because they appear to come from the constellation Perseus. The Perseid’s annual appearance peaks on August 12.
The Perseids have been observed for two thousand years.
The meteor showers origin from the dust trail of comet Swift-Tuttle that is crossed by planet earth every year. Most of these meteoroids have the size of a pebble.
The shooting stars or meteors are visible paths of meteoroids. As layers of the meteoroid abrade and ionize, the color of the light emitted may change according to the layering of minerals from yellow (sodium) to blue and green (copper), purple (potassium), and red (silicate). Unusually bright meteors are called fireballs.
The meteors’ height is about 75 kilometers. They move very fast, much faster than aircrafts or satellites, and may generate sound in the upper atmosphere. The particles in the meteor cloud seen today are around a thousand years old.