Meteor Showers!!!
August 11th, 2009 | 
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Seeing one shooting star on a clear night is amazing but imagine seeing a whole bunch of them, in quick succession and over the course of hours! Meteor showers are actually predictable, annual phenomena that even seasoned astronomers still get excited about. Mainly just specks of dust or grains of rock, meteors are visible because of the high speeds with which they are thrown at the Earth. On the eve of the annual Perseid meteor shower, we bring you some amazing pictures of meteor showers past and let you know when you can spot the next ones.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth moves through a meteor stream, namely the particles left from the passage of a comet. On its path around the Sun, the Earth is bound to move through meteor streams and predictably so, which is why the time of occurrence of a certain meteor shower can be calculated quite accurately. So-called shower calendars help stargazers plan the year ahead.
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http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/meteor-showers/14319
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