Meteors

Explore 14.1 Meteors to learn about the formation of meteors when interplanetary dust enters Earth’s atmosphere and how meteor showers are associated with comets.
When earth passes through the debris left behind from a comet, we see a meteor shower. The website MeteorShowers.org has an awesome visualization that connects the orbit of comets, their debris fields, and the meteor showers that we can observe on earth. Watch Comets and Meteor Showers for a brief tutorial on the website.
I’d love to see an epic meteor storm - especially something like the 1833 Leonids with 100 meteors every second! Check out the video Meteor Storm in Stellarium to see how we can visualize this incredible event.
Watch this video describing the amazing Stardust Mission, which captured debris from a comet (the same stuff that turns into shooting stars) and safely returned it back to earth.
Read 14.2 Meteorites: Stones from Heaven to understand the classification and composition of meteorites, including primitive carbonaceous meteorites containing organic molecules.
Check out this video where I Visit a Meteorite Collection and see real-life meteorites that come from the exact same meteor impacts that are shown in our textbook.
You can buy a meteorite, and they’re really not even that expensive. Check out some of these iron meteorites for sale or buy a piece of the Campo Del Cielo meteorite on Amazon.