How excessive up are meteors once they start to glow?
With the moon waning now, the perfect time of yr for watching meteors is sort of upon us. The Perseid meteor shower will peak on the mornings of August 11, 12 and 13, 2023. Meteors just like the Perseids – in annual showers – are leftover dust particles from comets. These bits of cometary particles collide with Earth’s environment and vaporize. We see this collision as a streak of sunshine throughout the sky – a meteor – or, extra poetically, a shooting star or falling star.
However how excessive up are meteors once they start to glow?
Meteors mild up virtually as quickly as they hit Earth’s environment. So, on common, once you see a meteor, you’re a chunk of dust burning vivid about 50 to 75 miles (80 to 120 km) in altitude above Earth’s floor.
Alternatively, the peak at which they completely dissipate within the environment varies. Some meteors, comparable to August’s Perseids, dissipate within the environment at about 60 miles (100 km) above Earth’s floor. Different meteors, such because the Draconids in October, fall to about 40 miles (65 km) earlier than they warmth up sufficient to glow and vaporize.
The distinction is that the Draconids are a lot slower meteors than the Perseids. The peak within the environment at which a meteor begins to glow is dependent upon its arrival velocity. Meteoroids dive into the environment at speeds starting from 25,000 to 160,000 miles per hour (about 40,200 and 257,500 km per hour).
Speeds for annual showers
There are a dozen main meteor showers every year, and plenty of extra minor ones.
Listed below are some meteor arrival speeds:
Leonids: 44 miles (71 km) per second
Perseids: 38 miles (61 km) per second
Orionids: 42 miles (67 km) per second
Lyrids: 30 miles (48 km) per second
Geminids: 22 miles (35 km) per second
Fall Taurids: 19 miles (30 km) per second
Delta Leonids: 14 miles (23 km) per second
Draconids: 14 miles (23 km) per second
By the best way, the size of a meteor’s path throughout the sky doesn’t rely completely on the meteor’s arrival velocity. It relies upon totally on the angle at which the particle of dust slices via the environment. If the particle arrives at a low angle, it enters the environment extra progressively, heats up extra slowly, and cuts an extended swath throughout the sky, than if it barrels in at a steep angle.
The dimensions, composition and density of the dust particle in all probability additionally have an effect on the size of the trail, however scientists nonetheless aren’t positive precisely how.
Backside line: How excessive up are meteors once they start to glow? Meteors begin glowing virtually as quickly as they hit Earth’s environment, however are likely to vaporize at various altitudes.
Read more: EarthSky’s meteor shower guide
