those meteorides were about to reach earth from space right......
2007-08-14 22:07:54 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The Perseid meteor showers are real enough. If you did not see them, don't feel bad, because lots of folks never see them for a number of reasons.
A so-called meteor shower occurs when the earth's orbit takes it through the debris trail left behind by a comet. During this time, which usually lasts for a few days, the number of meteors hitting the earth increases. The name "Shower" is a relative term. Meteors hit the earth all the time, but this count increases during a shower. In the case of the Perseids the number of meteors increases to about 60/ hour, in other words, one per minute.
This is over the whole sky!! only a part of this is within your vision at any given time.
Also, most of the meteors are rather dim. That means your eyes need to be adapted to the dark, and this takes at least 1/2 hour.! Most folks go outside to look for a few minutes and go back inside all disappointed because they did not see anything. No wonder.
Light pollution is another, and probably the main, reason for not seeing them.
Street lights, your porch light, the light shining through the porch windows as well as the neighbour's flood light all go towards destroying your night vision. And I haven't even talked about the sky glow which hangs over the city and obscures everything within about 20 degrees above the horizon.
What you need is a dark sky away from city lights with no white light reaching your eyes.
Looking at a flash light for example, will destroy your night vision instantly and you have to wait another 1/2 hour for it to return.
Those are some of the reasons most folks have never seen a meteor shower and most likely never will unless we control some of the light pollution. Billions of dollars could be saved if lights were simply shielded to illuminate the task at hand. When you try to light up your driveway for security reasons, all the light that goes up into the sky is wasted, unless you are trying to light up the bellies of Birds and Airplanes. With a shielded light you could use a light bulb half as big and still get your driveway lit just as bright, because all the light is aimed where it is needed.
OK, I'm off my soapbox now.!
I hope the above explains some of the reasons why most meteor showers are less spectacular than we expect them to be. Sadly, because of all of this, most kids never get to see the milky way.
Adolph
2007-08-15 01:10:06 · answer #1 · answered by Adolph K 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope -- the Perseid meteor shower is an annual event, just as is the Leonid shower, the Geminid shower, the upcoming Aurigid shower, and many others.
The names come from the fact that each "meteor shower" appears to be radiating from that point in the sky -- the constellation Perseus for the Perseid shower, the constellation Gemini for the Geminids, the constellation Auriga for the Aurigids, etc.
Some years the showers are just better than others. And it won't look like it is raining meteors even on the best years: just that there will be (on average) more per hour from that region than at any other time of year.
2007-08-15 03:50:08 · answer #2 · answered by Dave_Stark 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Perseid meteor shower took place exactly as predicted. Some friends and I observed a couple of dozen meteors on Sunday night. Like most meteors, they all vapourized high in the atmosphere, and none actually reached the surface of the Earth.
2007-08-15 02:23:33 · answer #3 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I do not know about the event that you are talking about.
But these events occurs every second, most such bodies are small enough and burn up, so no damage occurs. Day time events do not leave a visible trail, but it is possible to detect them with filter and sensitive equipment designed for the purpose, night time events are visible to naked eye if big enough and if the Skye is clear. Most farmer come across these rock from outer space, while plowing, there is a farm near Racine WI, USA that was a ground zero for such events and you can buy a space rock at that location.
Some large ones come down on farm land, ocean and remote areas of the earth, other come down and cause fires in the forest. Only once in a blue moon they hit a city (law of averages), and cause a considerable damage. Very few people have died of a direct strike, but there was an event long time ago, that cool the earth down for years to come and destroyed every thing in sight for miles and miles.
2007-08-15 01:21:05 · answer #4 · answered by minootoo 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No. It's true. There WAS a meteor shower. But don't worry. Nothing got anyone-all that happened was they all burned up in the atmosphere and people got to watch some pretty neat fireballs.
Meteors reach earth from space all the time. It's no big deal.
2007-08-14 22:13:42 · answer #5 · answered by Echo 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes it's true and from what we know they been doing the same thing over and over each year for several thousands of years.
2007-08-15 02:27:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
actually it happens mostly during the midnight at about 3 a.m till dawn and in the northern direction if i am not wrong.so we all missed it by sleeping at that time.
2007-08-14 22:55:21 · answer #7 · answered by rash 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you really do want to be future science, then learn spelling and grammar along with math and science.
2007-08-15 02:06:40 · answer #8 · answered by B. 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yes dear i too think they wer just rumours...
cause after that i hav not got any news regarding that...
still lets wait and watch.....
2007-08-14 22:13:06 · answer #9 · answered by Nazar 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋