meteor shower

n. A large number of meteors that appear over a period of hours or days and seem to come from the same direction in the sky.

meteor shower

n (Astronomy) a transient rain of meteors, such as the Perseids, occurring at regular intervals and coming from a particular region in the sky. It is caused by the earth passing through a large number of meteoroids (a meteor swarm)

me′teor show`er

n. the profusion of meteors observed when the earth passes through a swarm of meteors. [1875–80]

Thesaurus

Noun

meteor shower - a transient shower of meteors when a meteor swarm enters the earth's atmospheremeteor streamatmospheric phenomenon - a physical phenomenon associated with the atmosphereshooting star, meteor - a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode

Translations

meteor shower

meteor shower,

increase in the number of meteorsmeteor,
appearance of a small particle flying through space that interacts with the earth's upper atmosphere. While still outside the atmosphere, the particle is known as a meteoroid. Countless meteoroids of varying sizes are moving about the solar system at any time.
..... Click the link for more information. observed in a particular part of the sky. The trails of the meteors of a meteor shower all appear to be traceable back to a single point in the sky, known as the radiant point, or radiant. A shower is named for the constellation in which its radiant is located, e.g., the Lyrids appear to come from a point in Lyra, the Perseids from Perseus, and the Orionids from Orion.

Meteor showers usually occur annually and with varying intensity. While the average counting rate of meteors for the entire sky is between 5 and 10 per hr, an observer may see twice this number in one part of the sky during a shower, depending on atmospheric conditions and the degree of darkness, and in the case of the Perseids, possibly more than 100 in an hour. The Leonids produce spectacular displays roughly every 33 years, as they did during the meteor storm of 1966 (with a peak of a thousand a minute) and the intense shower of 2001 (with a peak of several thousand an hour). The Taurids, though not intense in number of meteors, is noted for the spectacular fireballs it displays.

Most meteor showers are closely associated with cometscomet
[Gr.,=longhaired], a small celestial body consisting mostly of dust and gases that moves in an elongated elliptical or nearly parabolic orbit around the sun or another star. Comets visible from the earth can be seen for periods ranging from a few days to several months.
..... Click the link for more information. . When a comet approaches the sun, a swarm of particles is shed along its orbit. If this orbit intersects that of the earth, a meteor shower will be observed. The shower will be particularly intense in those years when the original comet would have been observed. The Geminids are an exception; they are associated with the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The Andromedids are associated with Biela's comet, the Eta Aquarids and Orionids with Halley's comet, the Leonids with Comet Tempel-Tuttle, the Lyrids with Comet Thatcher, the Perseids with Comet Swift-Tuttle, and the Taurids with Comet Encke. Some of the better-known meteor showers and their approximate peak dates are: Lyrids, Apr. 21; Perseids, Aug. 12; Orionids, Oct. 20; Taurids, Nov. 4; Leonids, Nov. 16; Geminids, Dec. 13.

meteor shower

The increase in observed rate of appearance of meteors – shower meteors – when the Earth passes through a meteoroid stream; a particular shower occurs at the same time each year. The increase in rate differs from stream to stream: it is a function of mass of the originating comet, age of stream, position of intersection point with respect to stream axis, and orbital elements (which can vary slowly with time). With many showers the rate varies from year to year because the meteoroids are not evenly distributed around the stream. The ratio between shower rate and sporadic-meteor rate is a function of the mass of the meteoroids being observed. This ratio can be as high as 10 for visual meteors, is about 1–2 for radio meteors, and is negligible for satellite-observed meteors. Shower meteors appear to emanate from a radiant, the shower being named after the constellation that contains the radiant. See Table 4, backmatter.

Meteor Shower

a meteor stream of brief duration with a very large number of meteors, as many as 1,000 in 1 min. The following meteor showers have been observed in the last 200 years: the Andromedids (1872 and 1885), the Draconids (1933 and 1946), and the Leonids (1799, 1833, 1866, and 1966).

meteor shower

[′mēd·ē·ər ‚shau̇·ər] (astronomy) A number of meteors with approximately parallel trajectories.

meteor shower

meteor shower

meteor shower

me′teor show`er

meteor shower

meteor shower,

meteor shower

Meteor Shower

meteor shower

meteor shower

Synonyms for meteor shower

noun a transient shower of meteors when a meteor swarm enters the earth's atmosphere

Synonyms

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