Meteors Articles and News

7 photos of the Perseid meteor shower that'll leave you agog.

I don't mean to alarm you, but space is happening right now.

The Perseid meteor shower occurs every August as the planet Earth drifts through the remains of an ancient comet. As those small bits of rock and ice hit our atmosphere, they heat up until they glow, hurtling through the sky as meteors.

This year, on the evenings of August 11 and 12, we'll be closer than ever to those comet remains. And the view is spectacular.

1. Check out this shot from Spruce Knob, West Virginia.

Image via NASA/Bill Ingalls.

2. And this one from Bryce Canyon, Utah.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

3. Over in the U.K., photographer Dan Kitwood planted himself outside the ruins of Corfe Castle.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

4. And the photos ... well ... the photos speak for themselves.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

5. Yeah.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

6. In this time lapse, you can see the stars whirl across the sky, with meteors showing up like lines across the grain of wood.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

7. That must have been an awesome night.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

If you want to see these awesome night sky scenes for yourself, try going somewhere with a clear view of the sky.

Often, that means finding somewhere far away from the city — artificial light can drown out the meteors' glow.

And if you can't make it out this year, rest easy. Those meteors be back again next August.

Heroes

This spectacular dashcam video of a meteor reminds us how close space really is.

In the wee hours of May 17, just before 1 a.m., a meteor exploded in the sky over New England.

BOOM! GIF from American Meteor Society/YouTube.

The gigantic fireball was visible all the way from Pennsylvania to Québec.

GIF from American Meteor Society/YouTube.

Nearly 700 people reported seeing it to the American Meteor Society (AMS).

Though it might look like one big flash, the AMS has received enough video footage to analyze the tapes — they think the meteor might have actually broken into two fragments either before it hit the atmosphere or during its descent.

Though we rarely get such great pictures of them, the Earth is constantly getting bombarded by meteors, like flies on our planetary windshield.

Meteor showers are more fun if you make "pew pew" noises while you watch them. Photo from Sergey Balay/AFP/Getty Images.

As the Earth plows its way through the solar system, we bump into a lot of stuff. Guessing just how much stuff is hard, but one estimate says nearly 3,000 meteors not only hit the Earth's atmosphere, but actually make it all the way to the ground.

That might sound like a lot, but most meteorites either land in really remote areas or in the ocean, so we don't often get to see them. Many meteors are pretty small and usually burn up in the atmosphere, although we do know there are some big ones out there too.

Luckily, NASA has plans to deal with anything too large hurtling to Earth from outer space.

In early 2016, NASA announced the formation of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This is actually a combination of several pre-existing programs and will identify, track, study, and warn people about any big space rocks out there.

In the event that they see something that does look worrisome, NASA's got a couple different plans to deflect any potential problems. In fact, NASA is planning a 2020 mission that will hopefully capture part of an asteroid and serve as a proof of concept for one of these plans.

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM. Image from NASA/Wikimedia Commons.

The so-called New England Fireball was not only a spectacular galactic fireworks display, it was also a great reminder that space is all around us and part of our natural world. And that we should probably make sure NASA keeps getting funding so they can warn us if any big space rocks get a little too close.

meteors

7 photos of the Perseid meteor shower that'll leave you agog.

I don't mean to alarm you, but space is happening right now.

1. Check out this shot from Spruce Knob, West Virginia.

2. And this one from Bryce Canyon, Utah.

3. Over in the U.K., photographer Dan Kitwood planted himself outside the ruins of Corfe Castle.

4. And the photos ... well ... the photos speak for themselves.

5. Yeah.

6. In this time lapse, you can see the stars whirl across the sky, with meteors showing up like lines across the grain of wood.

7. That must have been an awesome night.

If you want to see these awesome night sky scenes for yourself, try going somewhere with a clear view of the sky.

This spectacular dashcam video of a meteor reminds us how close space really is.

In the wee hours of May 17, just before 1 a.m., a meteor exploded in the sky over New England.

The gigantic fireball was visible all the way from Pennsylvania to Québec.

Though we rarely get such great pictures of them, the Earth is constantly getting bombarded by meteors, like flies on our planetary windshield.

Luckily, NASA has plans to deal with anything too large hurtling to Earth from outer space.

Watch a dashcam recording of the meteor below:

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