meteors

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Tonight Could Bring Some of 2024's Final Fireballs

Annual Geminids meteor shower is set to peak on Friday evening

(Newser) - The Geminids—among the few major meteor showers to come from asteroids—peak on Friday, one of the year's last chances to see fireballs in the sky. The shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow, likely due to the unusual origin material, said Sally Brummel, planetarium...

Lyrid Meteor Shower Is Here
Lyrid Meteor
Shower Is Here
Apr 18, 2024 12:31 PM CDT

Lyrid Meteor Shower Is Here

But at its peak, so is a nearly full moon

(Newser) - The Lyrid meteor shower is underway. But with a nearly full moon in the sky during the peak, it might be tough to see clearly. The Lyrids occur every year in mid- to late April. This year's peak activity happens Sunday into Monday, with 10 to 20 meteors expected...

'Transitory' Visitors to Night Sky Are Coming Tonight

Southern Taurids meteor shower is at its peak, meaning you might even see a fireball

(Newser) - If you happen to see a fireball whizzing through the night sky on Monday, it's not a Don't Look Up moment (ie, no need to panic): It's simply the peak of the Southern Taurids meteor shower, which has been active since September, per NPR . Shooting stars—meteors...

One of the Year's Best Sky Shows Is About to Debut

Geminids meteor shower peaks Tuesday into Wednesday morning around the world

(Newser) - It's time once again for one of the biggest sky shows of the year: the Geminid meteor showers, set to peak in this week's skies on Tuesday night into the early hours of Wednesday, per the American Meteor Society . "If you had to pin one [meteor shower]...

Astronomer's Meteor Video Was Way Too Sexy for Twitter

Mary McIntyre's account was locked for 3-plus months after automated tools flagged the clip

(Newser) - Astronomers think celestial bodies are sexy, so much so that they often post about them on social media. For one UK space scientist, however, her video of a Perseid fireball over the summer was deemed too sexy for Twitter, resulting in her getting locked out of her account for three-plus...

NASA: Fireball Over South Was 10 Times Brighter Than Moon

Chunk of asteroid exploded over Louisiana

(Newser) - NASA has confirmed that a fireball seen over three Southern states this week was a piece of an asteroid around a foot across that exploded 34 miles above a swampy area in Louisiana. The agency says around 30 people in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana reported sightings. The meteor, which weighed...

Goodbye, Neowise Comet. Hello, Meteor Showers
Get Ready for 2 New
Meteor Showers
Jul 27, 2020 9:15 AM CDT

Get Ready for 2 New Meteor Showers

Weather permitting, you could catch a glimpse of the Delta Aquariids, Alpha Capricornids this week

(Newser) - When the door for one sky show closes, another one opens—and with the comet Neowise starting to fade, two sets of meteor showers are ready to fill that slot. If the weather holds up, space enthusiasts should be able to catch a glimpse this week of both the Delta...

Geminids Are Here, if the Moon Cooperates

Lunar brightness doesn't have to totally foil your meteor gazing this weekend

(Newser) - This year has been a major letdown for fans of shooting stars, Space.com notes—not because there haven't been any, but because the moon has been mucking things up, shining a little too brightly right around the time of some of 2019's major meteor events. Now, what...

Tonight's Meteor Shower Could Be Worth a Peek

With luck, North Americans could see 30 to 40 per hour

(Newser) - The Quadrantid meteor shower occurring annually in the first week of January is one of the few to produce more than 100 meteors per hour. Excited? Curb your enthusiasm. The display, set to peak around 10pm EST or 7pm PST on Thursday, is also one of the shortest-lived displays—"...

Asteroid Far Brighter Than Moon Dazzles Over US

NASA meteor cameras capture it above Alabama

(Newser) - People up late in the Southeast one night last week had the chance to catch a brief but spectacular light show. In a Facebook post , NASA says its meteor cameras picked up a small asteroid about 1:19am Friday that burned through the night sky and would have been tough...

The October Sky Show You've Been Waiting For Is Here

Orionid meteor shower is Friday, Saturday night, visible from anywhere on Earth (except Antarctica)

(Newser) - USA Today wants you to "count your lucky stars" this weekend—literally. That's because what it's deeming "one of the year's best sky shows" is set to take place: the Orionid meteor shower, scheduled to peak on Friday and Saturday nights, with the best...

What to Expect From This Weekend's Perseid Meteor Shower

NASA debunks a rumor

(Newser) - Last year's Perseid meteor shower was an extravaganza . Don't expect the same this year. While astronomers are expecting a decent 150 meteors per hour during peak hours between midnight and dawn on Aug. 12 and 13—a little less than the 200 per hour visible in 2016—NASA'...

Meteor Plowed Into Earth, We Failed to Notice

Impact happened 600 miles off Brazil on Feb. 6

(Newser) - Earth recently saw its largest meteor impact since the Chelyabinsk incident . Missed it? So did everyone else. While the Chelyabinsk impact shattered windows and injured more than 1,000 people, an impact more than 600 miles off the coast of Brazil on Feb. 6 was relatively quiet in comparison. For...

Why This Year's Taurids May Be Better Than Ever

Taurid's fireballs will be extra-enhanced by lack of full moon, dense debris field

(Newser) - Every year the Earth passes through the debris left behind by Comet Encke, and it's that time of year again, which means just one thing: Get ready for the fireballs. That's what you could see in the night sky over the next week or so as the Taurid...

Big Meteor Strikes Way More Common Than Thought

Chelyabinsk-size strike happens every 30 years or so

(Newser) - A meteor strike like the one in Chelyabinsk, Russia , earlier this year might seem like a once in a lifetime event, but a new study in Nature says that isn't the case. Using data from sensors around the world, researchers found that big asteroids have hit Earth's atmosphere...

Orionid Meteor Shower Headed This Way

Moon likely to obscure comet dust

(Newser) - The annual Orionid meteor shower will peak just before dawn on Friday and Saturday this week —although the sight won't be as amazing in years past, astronomers say. The meteor shower—caused by Earth passing through a cloud of dust left behind by Halley's comet—will be...

Meteorites Brought Gold to Earth

Impacts 3.9B years ago responsible for most noble metals in crust today

(Newser) - You can thank meteorites for most of the gold in Earth's crust, reports the BBC . In fact, 22 billion billion tons of asteroid material that showered our planet 3.9 billion years ago were responsible for the gold, platinum, and other precious metals there (and, by extrapolation, for Glenn...

Comet Dust Will Light Sky
Comet Dust Will Light Sky
Aug 11, 2007 1:46 PM CDT

Comet Dust Will Light Sky

(Newser) - Comet debris will light up the sky tomorrow night and Monday morning with shooting stars as Earth passes through the Perseid meteor shower. For the best view, pick a dark spot away from city lights and look east, says the Discovery Channel. "It's going to be a great show,...

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