Perseid meteor i Mælkevejen
A bout meteors (falling stars) and a list of meteor showers, with dates.

On Møn you can see meteors (shooting stars) all year, as long as the weather is clear without moonlight. But there are times when there are especially many meteors.

Bring a sleeping mat, lie down, relax and look up. If you stand up, your neck easily starts being painful, and you won't enjoy it very much.

We have installed a meteor camera on Møn, which is part of a large network of cameras.

A meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through a stream of dust and debris left behind by a comet or asteroid. This results in many meteors appearing to come from the same part of the sky, which is known as a radiant and is named after the constellation that coincides with that area. There are more than 500 meteor showers known, although many remain poorly documented.

A fireball is a particularly bright meteor. It is bright because it reaches low elevation. Most fireballs are fragments of asteroids or comets. Asteroids tend to be traveling significantly slower than comets and have orbital trajectories within the inner Solar System.

This fireball is probably a small fragment of a comet. The upside down mushroom shape is characteristic. Comets tend to explode at around 50 km in elevation.

Ildkugle på himlen

This image is a stacked night-long image, shows the path of a very bright fireball from 90 km to 16 km elevation.

Ildkugle på himlen

This fireball is probably a small fragment of a comet. The upside down mushroom shape is characteristic. Comets tend to explode at ~ 50 km elevation.

A meteorite is a rock that survives the fireball passage and lands on Earth. These tend to have a very thin dark fusion crust that is made of quenched glass. A critical point is that interior of a meteorite is commonly quite distinct. 

Not all meteors survive; meteorites are estimated lose 70 to 100% of their mass within the atmosphere. Meteorites are known to come from some asteroids, the Moon, and Mars. There are examples at the National History Museum in Copenhagen.

List of Meteor Showers

Bootides 28. december – 12. januar

Lyrids 16. april –30. april

Eta-Aquarids 19. april – 28. maj

Alpha-Capricornids 3. juli –15. august

Delta-Aquarids 12. juli – 23. august

Persids 17. juli – 24. august

Orionids 2. oktober –7. november

Taurids 20. oktober –10. december

Leonids 6. november – 30. november

Geminids 4. december – 20.december

Ursids 17. december –26.december

 

Shower

Time

Parent object

Quadrantids

early January

The same as the parent object of minor planet 2003 EH1,[28] and Comet C/1490 Y1.[29][30] Comet C/1385 U1 has also been studied as a possible source.[31]

Lyrids

late April

Comet Thatcher

Pi Puppids (periodic)

late April

Comet 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup

Eta Aquariids

early May

Comet 1P/Halley

Arietids

mid-June

Comet 96P/Machholz, Marsden and Kracht comet groups complex[1][32]

Beta Taurids

late June

Comet 2P/Encke

June Bootids (periodic)

late June

Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke

Southern Delta Aquariids

late July

Comet 96P/Machholz, Marsden and Kracht comet groups complex[1][32]

Alpha Capricornids

late July

Comet 169P/NEAT[33]

Perseids

mid-August

Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle

Kappa Cygnids

mid-August

Minor planet 2008 ED69[34]

Aurigids (periodic)

early September

Comet C/1911 N1 (Kiess)[35]

Draconids (periodic)

early October

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner

Orionids

late October

Comet 1P/Halley

Southern Taurids

early November

Comet 2P/Encke

Northern Taurids

mid-November

Minor planet 2004 TG10 and others[1][36]

Andromedids (periodic)

mid-November

Comet 3D/Biela[37]

Alpha Monocerotids (periodic)

mid-November

unknown[38]

Leonids

mid-November

Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle

Phoenicids (periodic)

early December

Comet 289P/Blanpain[39]

Geminids

mid-December

Minor planet 3200 Phaethon[40]

Ursids

late December

Comet 8P/Tuttle[41]