62 New Meteor Showers to Enjoy

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[/caption] Earth is constantly plowing through meteoric debris, and any given night stargazers can spot a shooting star or two. A seven year survey by astronomers at the University of Western Ontario has identified 117 new meteor showers, 62 of which have never been reported before. It's not that there are more meteors to see and enjoy these days, but the paths of the debris particles have been tracked, allowing researchers to trace the debris' orbits around the sun and track down their parent bodies. Next, the big job will be naming these different showers. Right now there are only 64 recognized and named meteor showers and over 300 other showers that have yet to be authorized by the International Astronomical Union.

The meteor survey uses radar to detect the trail of ionized gases the debris produces produced as they speed through atmosphere and disintegrate. The radar can detect debris about 10 times as small as what the naked eye can see, spotting objects about 0.1 millimetres across.

New Scientist

reports that the research team found that about half of the 117 observed streams follow orbits similar to those from other meteor showers. That bolsters previous research suggesting that the parent objects – mostly comets – likely broke up into smaller bodies that also shed debris trails – a break-up process that can occur over and over.

"In some cases, we can still trace [the trails] back to some parent objects; in others, we can't see an obvious parent," said team leader Peter Brown in New Scientist. For example, the team found half a dozen streams linked to Comet Encke, the parent body of the well-known Taurid meteor shower.

See this IAU page for a list of all discovered and established meteor showers.

Source:

New Scientist

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com