Archives for the 'meteors' Category
Tunguska, one century later
Published on 30 Jun 2008 at 4:10 pm.
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On the morning of June 30, 1908, people throughout the world were minding their own business. Then, a great fireball streaked across the sky over a remote part of Asia. Soon after a titanic explosion rocked Siberia. The explosion was heard for great distances, and it was even detected by its overpressure […]
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2007 Geminid Meteors
Published on 3 Dec 2007 at 8:46 pm.
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Near the middle of every December we get the Geminid Meteor shower. I wrote about the Geminids last year, but they are one of the year’s best meteor showers, so they are worth writing about again.
This year, the Geminids peak on the morning of December 14, however a few can be seen from December 6 […]
The Alpha Aurigid Meteor Shower
Published on 29 Aug 2007 at 12:27 am.
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Earlier this month, the Earth passed through a swarm of meteoroids shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle, giving rise to the Perseid Meteor Shower. Comets are a mixture of ice, rock, and dust. As they swing by the Sun, the ices melt (sublimate) and act to cause the comet to shed some of the solid […]
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2007 Perseid Meteors
Published on 9 Aug 2007 at 12:55 pm.
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Every August the Earth passes through a swarm of material shed by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. This debris, mostly very small things about the size of a rice grain or sand grain, strikes the Earth’s atmosphere at 60 km/s. At that speed, they compress and ionize the air, creating a glowing spot streaking across the […]
The meteorite and the tornado
Published on 9 May 2007 at 1:10 pm.
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Filed under Uncategorized, meteors.
The news media pride themselves on accurate unbiased reporting of important events. Yeah, right. I’ll grant that they report on events. Those adjectives, though, …
An example came just a little while ago. Someone asked me about the meteorite that fell during the monster tornado that destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kansas. […]
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The Geminid Meteors
Published on 10 Dec 2006 at 2:18 pm.
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A little over a week ago, I posted about the asteroid Phaethon and its association with the Geminid Meteors. The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks early Thursday morning, December 14. The Moon will rise about 1:30 to 2:00am (depending upon your location), so there will be a few hours of good dark skies in […]
3200 Phaethon: Asteroid or Dead Comet?
Published on 1 Dec 2006 at 3:41 pm.
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Comets are icy bodies that form in the outermost parts of the Solar System. Sometimes their orbits are disturbed, and they swing close to the Sun. When this happens, the ices (frozen water, frozen carbon dioxide, frozen methane, frozen ammonia, etc) begin to sublimate and shoot off, giving rise to a pretty blue tail. But, […]
