Just about every indigenous culture on Earth developed a set of constellations in their sky. Those that we in the West recognize today are mostly those
Week of May 7-13, 2023 Just about every indigenous culture on Earth developed a set of constellations in their sky. Those that we in the West recognize today are mostly those created by the ancient Greek and early European explorers. These cover the entire celestial sphere and represent objects, animals and people from mythological stories.
The peak of the annual Lyrid meteor shower has just passed. A group of stargazers was able to see a bright fireball meteor with me last Friday night while learning about space in Frankfort.
Most meteors are a tiny, little more than the size of a grain of sand. They glow so brightly and appear as shooting stars because they hit the atmosphere of the Earth moving at tremendous speeds â about 30,000 mph on average. That energy of motion, known as kinetic energy, is transformed into heat and light as the meteor is slowed by the atmosphere.
Meteor showers like the Lyrids occur on an annual basis and are named for the constellation from which most meteors in the shower appear to radiate from. These periodic showers are the result of the Earth passing through the debris stream left by a comet or asteroid that crosses Earthâs orbital path.