Meteor Shower Meteor shower is certain time of the year when ... (1) than usual and seem to come from specific parts of the sky. Meteors are particles of space dust that enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up, creating a streak of light in the night sky. Over 120 recognized meteor showers occur during the year. Observations of meteors and meteor showers provide important information about the distribution and the origins of the matter in solar system such as comets, asteroids, and other small bodies in the solar system. Scan QR Code for Listening Audio A meteor shower happens when the Earth moves through a belt of particles in space. Many (2), the such streams of particles orbit around the sun. If a belt of particles and an asteroid or ... asteroid or comet material gradually breaks up, leaving a trail of dust and rock that follows in the orbit and becomes a particle stream that can cause a meteor shower. Some showers, such as the Geminids, are related to asteroids with orbits that cross the earth's orbit. Astronomers can associate ... (3) by studying the time it takes to travel around the sun, corresponds to the amount of time between the most intense years for the meteor shower. For example, Halley's Comet has two associated meteor showers: the Eta Aquarids and the Orionids. Both showers showed higher rates of meteors per hour when the comet passed near the Earth in the 1980s. The Leonid meteor shower has a period of about 33 years and it has produced very intense storms when it has passed near the earth. Other meteor showers, such as the Lyrids, seem to come from particle streams that have the same orbit as a comet but do not show ... (4) when the comet is close to the Earth. It may take hours for an observer to determine that a meteor shower is in progress. Not all meteors are part of a shower. For example, even during a shower, meteors may fall at a rate of less than ten per hour. Astronomers know that ... (5) belong to a shower when they all seem to come from the same point in the sky, called the radiant. Most showers take their name from the constellation nearest to the radiant when the maximum rate of the shower occurs. Semester 2​