A meteor shower is an event in which a number of meteors are observed to move from one point to another in the night sky. Streams of cosmic debris which are also called meteoroids cause these meteors. These enter the Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Meteors are smaller than grains of sand. So, they cannot hit the Earth’s surface since they disintegrate. Some meteoroids which hit the Earth’s surface are called meteorites. Very high meteor showers are known as meteor outbursts or meteor storms, which produce more than 1000 meteors per hour.
As the meteor showers move in parallel paths, at the same velocity, they will appear to move away from a fixed point in the sky. It is just similar to the convergence of rail road tracks when we view from the middle of the tracks. As the Earth rotates around its own axis, this fixed point is observed to move slowly as the stars move while the Earth rotates.
It mainly occurs due to the contact of the Earth and streams of debris from a comet. Comets produce debris when they drag water vapor. The Perseid meteors occur in the month of August and the Leonid meteor shower occur in the month of November. So, it is on 17th of November this year. The Leonid shower is considered to be the best after the Perseid shower. These Meteor showers are named after the constellation in which the radiant is found. Depending on the place where the Earth and the streams of debris meet, the meteors are observed to fall from that particular place.
You can view the video of meteor shower here.
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