The meteors when arcing through the atmosphere produce a hissing sound. The reason for this ‘music of the meteors’, is shrouded in mystery that a new hypothesis tries of unraveling.
When asked to name a comet, chances are people will name Halley's and, in most cases, won't remember any others. Tonight, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower will rain bits of the solar system's most famous comet down on Earth as part of the yearly demonstration to remind us that even though we may not be able to see Halley's comet, it is still above streaking through the heavens.
May is shaping up to be one of the best months of 2015 for sky gazers and amateur astronomers across the world with planet watching and meteor showers just some of the highlights of what will be available to see in the night sky.
Turn your gazes to the sky overnight to catch a glimpse of the Quandrantid meteor shower. The annual meteor shower radiating from the constellation Boötes, may be difficult for some to see due to a very bright moon or cloud cover this year.
While the near full moon will interfere with the sights in the sky tonight, astronomers say that stargazers will still be able to see the first meteor shower of 2015 this weekend, with the arrival of the “Quadrantids".
Earlier this past summer when a mysterious giant crater was discovered in northern Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula, many believed the phenomenon to be far too strange to be a natural occurrence. Ironically named “Yamal” which means “the end of the world”, much skepticism surrounded early news of the phenomenon. And when images hit the web a myriad of theories abounded, leading viewers to throw reason to the wind claiming that the crater was either a man-made hoax, a site for a meteorite crash, or even the workings of an alien UFO.
Earlier last month, on Oct. 19, researchers from the world’s top space agencies were able to catch a glimpse at one of the rarest sights in space. Coming from the outer Oort Cloud, at the very edge of our solar system, young comet Siding Spring passed by Mars rather closely on its first orbit around the sun; giving Mars orbiters a show and quite a scare. But as it turns out new data collected from NASA’s satellites on the night of the event show that the best view may have in fact been from the red planet itself.
It's time for another one of Earth's annual meteor shower events, the Orionid meteor shower. Those who are willing to wake up early enough to catch a glimpse of the pre-dawn sky over the next week should be able to spot a few meteors are they streak across the morning sky.