Comet, an Astronomical Wonder!

The arrival of comets on the sky is a wonder to astronomers. But it is also believed by others as a bad omen attached to the leader of a country where it is seen. I wonder about this belief like this: a comet is seen all over the world in the skies of all the countries; then is it a sign of death for all those leaders?

Comets are heavenly bodies that revolve (orbit) around our sun like all our planets. So, they are seen periodically near our earth. They do not move with speed as the Shooting stars, Artificial satellites or Space stations. They are seen on the evening or the morning sky when sun sets down or rises up. They slowly move each day farther and go far away to be seen like an airplane that disappears at a distance on the sky.

Comets show a tail when they are near the sun. They consist of ice, dust and particles of rock. As these they go far away from the earth they leave behind debris that are attracted by earth’s atmosphere. When all these fall down on the earth, they produce or present the show of Meteor shower.

Shooting Stars - Meteors in Leonid Showers!

In our younger years of age, we used to gaze at the night sky and count the stars that appear, move and disappear – ‘Shooting Stars.’ While doing so, friends advised that one should immediately look at a green tree if he sees a shooting star; otherwise it might cause his death!

In 1998 November, there was news in dailies about ‘Leonid Showers.’ So, we all went to look upon the skies after midnight at about 01.30 am. The date was 18^th. You can read my jotting on my diary on that date:

“At night (1.30 am to 3.30 am) we all saw the meteors on the clear sky about one or two at a time in a gap of about 10 minutes from 2.15 am to 3.30 am”

As we waited with patience, there were these continued appearances of these shooting stars (or the Meteors) in showers. It appeared as if fireworks were lit and displayed in the sky at the Deepavali Day, here in India! An amazingly spectacular heavenly sight!

‘Meteoroids’ are the smaller separated parts from the Asteroids belt of stones that revolve around the Sun. When they come near our Earth, they are attracted and sucked into its atmosphere; but they catch fire and become visible as ‘Meteors.’ As they do so they get vaporized or fall down to the ground as ‘Meteorites.’ (It is believed that one large such of meteorites hit the Earth in Mexico and caused the extinction of Dinosaurs). But the Meteor showers of Leonid occur when our Earth passes through the dust particles left out by the comet Tempel-Tuttle.
Did these meteor showers come only in 1998? No, no! They appear each and every year around mid- November! So, you can witness this celestial event this year also in the Constellation of Leo. I wish you all have this wonderful experience! You can contact me for sharing your own rendezvous with these meteors or meteorites.