Mother Nature's Fireworks!
Meteors.
July/August 1979
by GEORGE BEEKMAN
The meteors (in this time exposure shot) are the pink streaks with burts.
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Meteors are commonly called shooting stars, but-as you know-the cosmic objects aren't really stars at all. Instead, they're particles of space dust and rock that give off intense bursts of light (and occasionally sound) as they burn up in the higher reaches of our atmosphere.
Although meteors enter the earth's protective covering of air all the time (and a sharp-eyed observer can sight up to 10 "falling phenomena" an hour on almost any dark, clear night), the best astral displays occur when Spaceship Earth passes through a long trail of comet debris or, a denser-than-usual dust cloud. The amazing meteor showers that occur at such times can actually fill the entire sky.
As a matter of fact-on November 12, 1833-shooting stars sprayed over America's skies like a heavy blizzard of luminescent snowflakes . . . at a rate of 35,000 per hour! The stellar display was so astounding that-as one contemporary writer put it-"the population was impressed to the point of reform". Such superstar showers don't happen all that often, though, and are extremely difficult to predict.
Luckily, there are a few "regular" sky shows, and two of the best-known annual astral performances take place every July and August. If you go stargazing after midnight during either of those two showers and if the sky isn't blotted out by clouds-you can expect to see between 30 and 50 meteors an hour!
IT DEPENDS ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW
"Hold on a minute!" you may exclaim. "Does space dust punch a time clock? How come meteors don't fall before midnight?" Well, of course some sky stones do drop before the stroke of twelve (and during the day as well). However-because of the direction of the earth's rotation-you'll see more meteors after midnight than before. Why? Because an observer of the evening sky looks mainly at that part of space our planet is hurtling away from ... while-on the other hand-a predawn sky-watcher sees the section of sky we're all heading toward.
