What do meteor showers mean?
441328
(m)\n\nFrom earliest times, humankind has noticed flurries of meteors that seemed to emanate from particular points in the sky at particular times of the year. These flurries, now called meteor showers, are produced by small fragments of cosmic debris entering the earth's atmosphere at extremely high speed. When the number of meteors is large, it is called a meteor storm. Each time a periodic comet swings by the Sun, it produces large amounts of small particles which will eventually spread out along the entire orbit of the comet to form a meteoroid "stream". If the Earth's orbit and the comet's orbit intersect at some point, then the Earth will pass through this stream for a few days at roughly the same time each year, producing a meteor shower. The parent bodies (comets) of most known meteor showers have now been identified.\n\nMost meteors seen in meteor showers are caused by particles smaller than a grain of sand. As a result it is very rare to have any meteorites hit the ground during a typical meteor shower.\n\nBecause meteor shower particles are all traveling in parallel paths, and at the same velocity, they will all appear to radiate from a single point in the sky to an observer below. This radiant point is caused by the effect of perspective, similar to railroad tracks converging at a single vanishing point on the horizon when viewed from the middle of the tracks.\n\nAny other solar system body with a reasonably transparent atmosphere can also have meteor showers. For instance, Mars is known to have meteor showers, although these will be different than the ones seen on Earth because the different orbits of Mars and Earth will intersect with orbits of comets in different ways. On March 7, 2004, the panoramic camera on Mars Exploration Rover Spirit recorded a streak which is now believed to have been caused by a meteor from a Martian meteor shower associated with comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff. A strong display from this shower is expected on December 20, 2007, although it is unlikely that Spirit or Opportunity will still be operational at that time to observe it.
430419
Have you ever looked at the sky and seen a shooting star?\n\nThese are meteors burning up as the enter the atmosphere.  Is this what you are talking about?
138456
There are 10 significant meteorshowers every year. The next one this year is called the Lyrids and peaks around april 22. It generates a typcial rate of 15 meteors per hour. Wether they are very visible in New York City due to ligth pollution I cant really say.
958240
the meteors last all night starting around 11pm and endin at about 6am...but the peak of the meteor showers is what you want to see with the leonids...the peak starts around 11:45pm-midnight and last 2 hours...find a good spot, supposed to be a great show with hundreds of meteors if you catch it in a good enough spot
846875
During most of the shower activity you'll be lucky to see one Leonid meteor every ten minutes, which can be an eternity standing out in the cold with your neck craned up. However, there is a good chance that Earth will pass through a particularly dense ribbon of comet dust for a few minutes at  4:45 UT on Sunday morning Nov 19. That's 11:45pm Saturday night in New York. Unfortunately it's too early for us on the west coast, because at 8:45 pm our time we are "looking off the back of the boat" as Earth sails through the rocks.  All the incoming meteors tend to hit above people facing the direction of Earth's orbit around the sun, which is the direction we start to face only after local midnite. A predicted rate for favorable locations (mostly western Europe or the Altantic Ocean) at 04:45 UT is 150 meteors per hour. Such figures presume a horizon to horizon view of clear sky and no light pollution. If I haven't discouraged you too much, and the Saturday night sky is clear for both of you, and you can stay awake after midnite, then by all means put on something really really warm and go outside and enjoy the stars, and the occasional Leonid meteor.  You'll get no interference from the moon this weekend.
370846
i just received email about it, so i'll just copy and paste it... \n\nEarth is about to pass through the dusty tail of Comet Thatcher, and this will cause the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on April 22nd, producing about 10 meteors per hour--modest, but pretty.  The best time to look is during the hours before sunrise on Saturday morning.  Go to a dark site away from city lights, if possible.\n\nThe Moon will also encounter the comet's tail on April 22nd, which raises an interesting possibility: Amateur astronomers may be able to spot flashes of light on the Moon when comet debris hits the lunar surface and explodes. All that's required is a backyard telescope and lots of patience.\n\nNote: This is a Northern Hemisphere shower.  South of the equator, observers will see very few Lyrids.  Southerners are, however, in an excellent position to observe Lyrid impacts on the Moon.  The Moon rises high in southern skies on April 22nd, in plain view of backyard telescopes.\n\nyou can visit the link below for observing tips and sky maps
399357
Meteors enter the atmosphere at speeds ranging from 11 km/sec (25,000 mph), to 72 km/sec (160,000 mph!). When the meteoroid collides with air molecules, its high level of kinetic energy rapidly ionizes and excites a long, thin column of atmospheric atoms along the meteoroid's path, creating a flash of light visible from the ground below. This column, or meteor trail, is usually less than 1 meter in diameter, but will be tens of kilometers long
307414
A telescope won't really help much to view a meteor shower.  It's best to just find a spot as far away as possible from city lights, sit back, and watch the sky.  Because meteors aren't entirely predictable, the chances of one being caught in your telescope are very remote.  The meteor shower you're referring to is going to peak around 2 in the morning on April 22nd, a Saturday.  The meteors can come from any part of the sky, so just take a blanket, something warm to drink, a few friends, maybe, relax.  It'll be a good time, I assure you.
251640
"Quickie Questions - Other Solar System Stuff - Asteroids / Meteors / Meteroids / Comets"\nhttp://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/kids_space/qss_ast.html&edu=high\n\n"Meteoroids are smaller fragments of rock broken off of asteroids or dust released from a comet’s tail.\n...\nShooting stars, or meteors, are caused when a meteoroid enters the atmosphere. (When the meteroid enters the atmosphere, it becomes a meteor.)"
706188
It means, if you look at billions of days with weather conditions just like this day, 20% of them would be days with rain.\n\nI'm not a pro.\n\nBTW, when they give people stats and predictions, wherein it rained 40 out of a hundred times that the weather person said there was a 40% chance of rain, people tend to think the weather person was a lousy predictor.\n\nEven though the stats suggest they were a perfect predictor.\n\nFolks just don't understand this stuff, do they?
839231
for this meteor shower after the midnight you can have a good observe but the best day for it is 18th of Nov. after 4am for UK.\nfor more information visit this website: http://www.IMO.net\ngood luck!
793887
Anyplace not cloudy and that does not have too many bright lights will do. Just look anywhere in the sky. The meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. Look after midnight though, because the radiant won't rise until then. The later at night you look, the better. 4:00 AM would be the best time to look.\n\nThe predictions are not that good this year. A few years ago I saw 50 bright ones per hour. This year they are predicting 10 or 15 per hour, and maybe not bright ones either. Also, the peak time is before the radiant rises in the US, so Europe will see the best show. If the predictions are correct.
532656
I think there's no difference between how people perceive them... but they're BOTH actually meteors being burnt as they enter our atmosphere...Freaky, huh!
563434
a meteor is headed toward earth so it hits the atmosphere, so you never see it again. the comet orbits the sun, so it does not burn up. the reason it does not burn up when it gets to close to the sun is because it orbits it, it does not crash into it.
829274
Any place with a clear dark sky. The meteors will be visible from pretty much anywhere on Earth, except maybe near the south pole. Look after midnight though, since all the meteors will be hitting the dawn side of the Earth.
573297
Either a meteor or prosperity, depending on the kanji.\n\n隆盛 【りゅうせい】 (adj-na,n) prosperity; \n流星 【りゅうせい】 (n) meteor; falling star
948153
Good.  It's always fun seeing bright meteors (meteors are the streak you see in the sky;  a meteorite is the term used for such an object that survives it's plunge into the atmosphere and strikes the ground; a meteoroid is the same object still in open space).  Quite likely what you saw was one of the Orionids, especially if it seemed to eminate from the constellation Orion.  Those particular meteors are very fast and can be very bright.  The Orionids were pretty spectacular this year...I saw 5 of them in about 10 minutes during the peak.