Meteore

Meteore is the Italian term for meteors, the luminous phenomena produced when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere. They appear as bright streaks across the night sky, commonly called shooting stars. Most meteoroids burn up completely through atmospheric friction and ablation, leaving only a transient light trail. Larger fragments can survive passage and reach the surface as meteorites, while most of the time the bodies are destroyed before reaching the ground.

Meteore originate from small solar-system bodies such as comets and asteroids. Cometary debris fills orbital streams; when the Earth passes through one of these streams, a meteor shower occurs, resulting in repeated meteors radiating from a fixed point in the sky, the radiant. Sporadic meteors, not tied to showers, also occur. The brightness of meteors ranges from faint to very bright; exceptionally bright events are called bolides or fireballs.

Observation and study: Meteore are observed visually, photographed, or recorded by video and radar. Rates are measured as meteors per hour during showers. International networks, such as the International Meteor Organization, collect data to forecast showers, estimate activity, and investigate meteoroid composition and atmospheric interactions.

Notable meteor showers: the Perseids (peaking in August from Swift-Tuttle), the Geminids (December from asteroid 3200 Phaethon), the Quadrantids (January from an unknown parent body, likely asteroid 2003 EH1), the Orionids (October from Halley's Comet), and the Leonids (November from Tempel-Tuttle).