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In 2002

The following table shows the Meteor Showers for 2002


Shower                  Activity      Peak   Relative  Shower Rating   
                         Period       Date    Speed                    
*Quadrantids          Jan 01-Jan 05  Jan 03  Medium    Very Strong     
Alpha-Centaurids      Jan 28-Feb 21  Feb 08  Fast      Weak            
Virginids             Jan 25-Apr 15  Mar 24  Med-Slow  Weak            
*Lyrids               Apr 16-Apr 25  Apr 22  Med-Fast  Medium to Strong
Pi-Puppids            Apr 15-Apr 28  Apr 23  Slow      Usually Weak    
*Eta-Aquarids         Apr 19-May 28  May 05  Fast      Strong          
Sagittarids           Apr 15-Jul 15  May 19  Med-Slow  Weak            
July Phoenicids       Jul 10-Jul 16  Jul 13  Med-Fast  Usually Weak    
Pisces Austrinids     Jul 15-Aug 10  Jul 28  Medium    Weak            
*South Delta-Aquarids Jul 12-Aug 19  Jul 28  Medium    Strong          
*Perseids             Jul 17-Aug 24  Aug 12  Fast      Very Strong     
Alpha-Aurigids        Aug 25-Sep 05  Sep 01  Fast      Medium          
Delta-Aurigids        Sep 05-Oct 10  Sep 08  Fast      Weak            
Draconids             Oct 06-Oct 10  Oct 08  Slow      Very Weak       
*Orionids             Oct 02-Nov 07  Oct 21  Fast      Strong          
South Taurids         Oct 01-Nov 25  Nov 05  Med-Slow  Weak            
North Taurids         Oct 01-Nov 25  Nov 12  Med-Slow  Weak            
*Leonids              Nov 14-Nov 21  Nov 17  Fast      Strong          
Alpha-Monocerotids    Nov 15-Nov 25  Nov 21  Fast      Usually Weak    
Phoenicids            Nov 28-Dec 09  Dec 06  Slow!     Usually Weak    
Puppid-Velids         Dec 01-Dec 15  Dec 07  Medium    Medium          
*Geminids             Dec 07-Dec 17  Dec 14  Medium    Very Strong     
Coma Berenicids       Dec 12-Jan 23  Dec 19  Fast      Weak            
Ursids                Dec 17-Dec 26  Dec 22  Medium    Medium          

Major Showers are marked with a *

Encouraged by their individual successes in accurately (within a few minutes) predicting the time of the 1999 meteor outburst, several astronomers have now concluded that even bigger things may be on the way in 2002. The team of David Asher (Ireland) and Robert McNaught (Australia), and the team of Esko Lyytinen (Finland) and Tom Van Flandern (U.S.), independently predict that an even greater storm of Leonid meteors is due to impact Earth’s atmosphere during the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 19, 2002. And if all of their calculations are correct, much of North America will have a ringside seat for this grand meteor show(er).

The predicted time for the peak of this year’s Leonids will be 5:40 a.m. EST—give or take several minutes.
Lyytinen and Van Flandern are suggesting an hourly meteor rate of 7,400.
Meanwhile, Asher and McNaught think meteor rates might approach a staggering 25,000 per hour!

Moonlight can obstruct your ability to observe meteor showers

Current Phase Of The Moon

A meteor, sometimes called a "shooting star", can be the brightest object in the night sky,
yet meteoroids are the smallest bodies in the solar system that can be observed by eye.

Wandering through space, perhaps as debris left behind by a comet, meteoroids enter the earth's atmosphere, are heated by friction, and for a few seconds streak across the sky as a meteor with a glowing trail.

A brilliant meteor, called a fireball, may weigh many kilograms, but even a meteor weighing less than a gram can produce a beautiful trail.
Some of these visitors from space are large enough to survive
their trip through the atmosphere and impact the ground as meteorites.

Fireballs are sometimes followed by trails of light that persist for up to 30 minutes;
some, called bolides, explode with a loud thunderous sound.
How can a particle the size of a grain of sand produce such a spectacular sight?

The answer is the speed at which the meteoroid enters the earth's atmosphere.
Many meteoroids travel at 60-70 kilometers per second.
As a comparison, the shuttle moves around the earth at about 8 kilometers per second.
During its trip through the atmosphere, meteoroids collide with air molecules,
knocking away materials and stripping electrons from the meteor.
When the stripped atoms recapture electrons, light is emitted.
The color of the light depends on the temperature and the material being "excited".

On almost any night a few meteors an hour will be seen from any one place.
However, periodically there are meteor showers, with hundreds of meteors emanating from the same apparent spot in the sky.
These showers typically last from a few hours to several days.
These showers are usually associated with comet paths, and are caused by debris expelled by the comet.

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