WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Astro Minute: October Meteor Showers

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Look to the sky this October to see fiery ice in Earth's upper atmosphere!

Welcome to the Astro Minute, where we're exploring the universe 60 seconds out of time. I'm Lauren Smith, and today we're welcoming distant neighbors. Do we ever have visitors from the edge of the solar system? Yes, in autumn and winter are perfect seasons to see their fiery trails. Meteor showers are produced by comets, primordial balls of dusty ice that the sun's powerful gravity draws in from remote regions of our solar system. When the Earth flies through a comet's messy trail at 67,000 miles per hour, bits of ancient dust and rock burn through our atmosphere, leaving fiery streaks of ionized gas in their wake.

Named after the constellations from which they appear to come, several meteor showers are active the entire month of October, including the drakenids which peak on the 8th, the torids peaking on the 10th, and the Orionids peaking the 21st. That's your Astro Minute.