Meteor Showers and Shooting Stars
Students learn the difference between meteoroids, meteors and meteorites, discover that meteor showers happen when Earth crosses dust trails left by comets and the asteroid Phaethon, and plan how to watch a shower safely.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops8 stops
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What students will see and do
Students fly from Earth to a solar system overview, then to Comet Swift-Tuttle, the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Halley's Comet, Comet Encke and the Moon, ending back at Earth. Aetherion pauses for discussion above the solar system (why showers repeat on the same dates), at Phaethon (whether an asteroid that sheds dust is really an asteroid) and at Earth (planning a safe meteor watching night).
Learning objectives
- Explain the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor and a meteorite.
- Describe how Earth's yearly orbit through comet and asteroid dust trails causes meteor showers on predictable dates.
- Identify the parent bodies of the Perseids, Geminids, Orionids, Eta Aquariids and Taurids.
- Use knowledge of Moon phase, darkness and time of night to plan safe meteor observing.
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-1 | Students use the pattern of Earth's yearly orbit to explain why meteor showers repeat on about the same dates each year and how Moon phases affect viewing. |
|---|---|
| MS-PS3-3 | Students connect the heating of air and meteoroids at high speed to the glowing streaks of meteors. |
| MS-ESS1-2 | Students describe how comet and asteroid orbits, governed by gravity, spread dust into trails that Earth crosses. |
Stops on this journey
- Three Words for One Rock
- Crossing a Dusty Trail (discussion stop)
- The Perseids and Comet Swift Tuttle
- The Geminids and a Strange Asteroid (discussion stop)
- Two Showers from Halley
- Slow Fireballs from Encke
- Meteors Without Air
- Your Meteor Watching Night (discussion stop)
Vocabulary
- meteoroid
- meteor
- meteorite
- meteor shower
- radiant
- fireball
- parent body
- debris trail