Meteor showers happen when Earth travels through trails of tiny debris in space and those particles burn up in our atmosphere. These streaks of light are what people call “shooting stars”.
Source of the debris
Most meteor showers come from dust and small rocky bits released by comets as they heat up near the Sun and shed material along their orbits. In a few cases, the debris stream comes from asteroids that have fragmented, as with the Geminid and Quadrantid showers.
How showers form
Each time a comet passes near the Sun, some of its ice vaporizes and carries dust and small rocks away, leaving a long “dust trail” along its orbit. Over time this material spreads out into a meteoroid stream that can intersect Earth’s orbit at specific points in space.
Why they are annual
Because Earth follows the same path around the Sun each year, it crosses the same debris streams at roughly the same dates, creating recurring showers like the Perseids or Leonids. The apparent point in the sky they seem to radiate from (the “radiant”) gives each shower its name, such as the Perseids from the constellation Perseus.
What makes the streaks of light
When these sand‑ to pebble‑sized particles hit the atmosphere at tens of kilometers per second, they compress and heat the air in front of them, causing both the air and the particle to glow. Most are so small that they vaporize completely high above the ground, so almost none reach Earth’s surface.
