Observation Activity D
Observing Meteors
Discussion. Meteors ("shooting stars") are very common; you may see one by accident any
night. With some planning, however, you can make systematic observations of meteors that will
reveal something about their origins. Meteors are grains of dust that fall into the atmosphere and
burn up from the friction of traveling rapidly through the atmosphere.
On any night you can see from 5 to 15 meteors an hour from a dark site, but these will not
necessarily be part of a meteor shower. If you want to see more meteors and you want to see
them come from a radiant point, use the table of meteor showers that accompanies this activity to
select a night when a shower is in progress.
Procedure. Photocopy the appropriate star chart from your textbook. Select a cloudless night
when the moon will not be out. Try to find a location away from bright lights (out in the country,
away from city lights, is ideal). Be sure that you are equipped for an hour or more of
observation: a reclining lawn chair, flashlight, clipboard, star charts, pencil, and refreshments.
Dress warmly enough for comfort.
Relax and watch the sky. Don't use a telescope or binoculars, since you want to watch a large
area of the sky continuously. When you see a meteor, note its position among the constellations
and sketch its path on the star chart.
If you are making your observations on the night of a meteor shower, you may begin to see a
pattern appearing on your star chart after an hour or two. Most of the meteors may seem to be
radiating from a specific region of the sky. These meteors are part of the meteor shower; the
region of sky from which they seem to come is the radiant of the shower. Meteors that do not
seen to radiate from the radiant are not members of the shower.
Table 1. Major meteor showers
Shower
Quadrantids
Lyrids Aquarids Aquarids
Perseids
Orionids
Taurids
Leonids
Geminids Dates
January 2-4
April 20-22
May 2-7
July 26-31
August 10-14
October 18-23
November 1-7
November 14-19
December 10-13 Hourly
Rate
30
8
10
15
40
15
8
6
50 Radiant
R.A.
h
15 24m
18h4m
22h24m
22h36m
3h4m
6h20m
3h40m
10h12m
7h28m Dec.
50
33
0
10
58
15
17
22
32 75 Observation Activity D Report Sheet Observing Meteors
Include the a start chart as an attachment.
Date of observation:
Did you observe a meteor shower (yes or no)?
If "yes," what is the name of the meteor shower?
For what length of time did you do your observations?
How many meteors did you see? 76

 

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