Observation Activity D

Observing Meteors

Discussion.  Meteors ("shooting stars") are very common; you may see one by accident any night.  With some planning, however, you can make systematic observations of meteors that will reveal something about their origins.  Meteors are grains of dust that fall into the atmosphere and burn up from the friction of traveling rapidly through the atmosphere.

On any night you can see from 5 to 15 meteors an hour from a dark site, but these will not necessarily be part of a meteor shower.  If you want to see more meteors and you want to see them come from a radiant point, use the table of meteor showers that accompanies this activity to select a night when a shower is in progress.

Procedure.  Photocopy the appropriate star chart from your textbook.  Select a cloudless night when the moon will not be out.  Try to find a location away from bright lights (out in the country, away from city lights, is ideal).  Be sure that you are equipped for an hour or more of observation:  a reclining lawn chair, flashlight, clipboard, star charts, pencil, and refreshments.  Dress warmly enough for comfort.

Relax and watch the sky.  Don't use a telescope or binoculars, since you want to watch a large area of the sky continuously.  When you see a meteor, note its position among the constellations and sketch its path on the star chart.

If you are making your observations on the night of a meteor shower, you may begin to see a pattern appearing on your star chart after an hour or two.  Most of the meteors may seem to be radiating from a specific region of the sky.  These meteors are part of the meteor shower; the region of sky from which they seem to come is the radiant of the shower.  Meteors that do not seen to radiate from the radiant are not members of the shower.

Table 1.  Major meteor showers

Observation Activity D Report Sheet

Observing Meteors

Include the a start chart as an attachment.