Back to Space Objects
🌠
Meteors & Shooting Stars
🌠 Phenomena•common
Streaks of light in the night sky caused by small particles entering Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. These particles, mostly no bigger than grains of sand, burn up due to friction with air molecules.
Technical Specifications
Entry Speed11-72 km/s
Burn Altitude50-80 km
Daily Count~48 tons of material
Peak Brightness-12 to -14 mag (fireballs)
Major Showers12 per year
CompositionRock, iron, ice
Fascinating Facts
- 01
Millions of meteors enter Earth's atmosphere daily
- 02
Most meteors burn up 50-80 km above Earth
- 03
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through comet debris
- 04
The fastest meteors travel at 72 km/s
- 05
The Perseid shower produces up to 100 meteors per hour
- 06
A meteor becomes a meteorite if it reaches Earth
- 07
The largest meteorite found weighs 60 tons
- 08
Meteor showers are named after their radiant constellation