Sri Lankans will be able to witness several meteor showers in the coming days, the Sri Lanka Planetarium announced today.

Meteor showers, known by our ancestors as falling stars or God’s lights, can be seen even today, every year during various time periods.

The meteoroids in space as well as the dust get affected by the gravitational force and attract towards the earth, resulting in collisions with the earth’s atmosphere reaching extreme temperatures such as 3000 Celsius. Due to this reason, these objects get burnt and turn to ash before reaching the ground. During this act of burning, we see them in different, attractive colors. They are called meteor showers. These different colors occur due to different elements containing in these meteoroids. For an example, if the meteoroids contain Sodium (Na) we can see a yellow color meteor shower.

The following meteor showers will be seen in Sri Lanka in coming days.

Draconid Meteor Shower

Normally meteor showers can be seen in the early morning sky, but Draconid meteor shower is different from others. We can see it in the evening sky. In this instance, 10 meteors per hour get released near the star constellation Draco and these can appear anywhere in the sky. It can be seen in its extreme intensity on 6th October.

Orionids Meteor Shower

This shower occurs due to the particles remaining from the comet Halley. In this occurrence, around 20 meteors per hour get released near the star constellation Orion and they can be noticed anywhere in the sky. It can be observed in its peak on 21st and 22nd October.

Taurids Meteor Shower

This meteor shower is also a little bit unusual. It is observed as two separate light steams.  One light beam occurs due to asteroid 2004 TG10 and the other occurs due to the remaining of the comet 2P Encke. Furthermore, 5 to 10 meteors are released per hour. Although this meteor shower occurs near Tours star constellation, it can be seen anywhere in the sky. On 4th November it can be observed in maximum intensity.

Leonids Meteor Shower

This meteor shower occurs due to the dust particles and grains left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle. Normally 15 meteors can be observed per hour. This meteor shower occurring near star constellation Leo, activates once in 33 years emitting 100 meteors per hour since comet Temple-Tuttle comes near the earth once in 33 years. This happened in 2001 and will occur once again in the year 2034. This meteor shower can be seen in this year, its peak on 17th and 18th November in the morning sky.

Geminds Meteor Shower

This meteor shower consists of very attractive, different colors. This is the best meteor shower which can be seen this year. The specialty of this meteor shower is that one meteor slowly spreads through the sky. This meteor shower occurs due to the remaining particles of an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon and spreads near star constellation Gemini. Around 120 meteors occur per hour and can be seen in extreme intensity on 13th December night and 14th December morning.

Ursids Meteor Shower

This is a minor meteor shower consisting of a small number of meteors, 5 to 10 meteors are released per hour. This occurs due to the remaining dust particles from comet Tuttle. It occurs near the star constellation Ursa Minor and can be observed in maximum intensity on 21st and 22nd December.