Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What do meteor showers mean?

can we make wishes on a meteor shower

12 Answers

Relevance
  • 2 decades ago
    Favorite Answer

    (m)

    From 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.

    Most 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.

    Because 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.

    Any 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.

  • 2 decades ago

    A meteor shower is when large rocks in space come close to the earth. the rocks burn up in the earth's atmosphere, which is what creates the pritty lights. There are usually a whole bunch of them. You can wish on a meteor shower, it's good luck.

  • 8 years ago

    Who is meteor? How Meteor can make our wishes? O.o By go to bath and use a shower?

  • 5 years ago

    Poor Ashley. I'm sure she was hoping somebody would say it means the world will end a week from today. (Actually, there were several answers to that effect, but Elvis and Tupac conspired to have the Illuminati and Judge Crater delete them.)

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 2 decades ago

    The sky is falling. Wish that it does not fall on you.

    Have you ever seen a crater from a good size hit on the Earth. It is a little known fact that Buckeye Lake just North of Columbus, OH is a meteor crater. The meteor was recovered and found to be a very dense composition of rare elements that weighed 3.5 pounds. Buckeye Lake is a very shallow depression that covers several miles of surface which says that the impact was from the West at an angle less than 15 degrees.

  • 2 decades ago

    a meteor shower is when alot of rocks go flying through space... in the spiritual way: the meteors can cary ur wishes to the gods.

  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    multitude of small rocks falling in earth's atmosphere at once. We see them burn to nothing. Usually, it's a falling star we wish upon.(which is actually 1 meteorite burning in the atmosphere)

  • 2 decades ago

    It means its Saturday, thats bath day for meteors. You can make wishes on meteor showers. I think. Course, nothing I ever wish for comes true. So maybe not.

  • 2 decades ago

    I think a meteor is an old star?? When it comes through the Earths atmosphere, it burns up, thats what we can see. Not sure of the mystic significance , but they are beautiful to see. They make you realise how small and insignificant you and your problems really are in this huge cosmos.

  • 2 decades ago

    Yes, you can, but that doesn´t mean they´ll come true, though.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.