CG: n
CT: Most meteor showers are spawned by comets. As a comet orbits the Sun it sheds an icy, dusty debris stream along its orbit. If Earth travels through this stream, we will see a meteor shower. Although the meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, if you trace their paths, the meteors in each shower appear to “rain” into the sky from the same region.
S: SD – https://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors (last access: 20 January, 2021)
N: 1. – meteor (n) late 15c., “any atmospheric phenomenon,” from Old French meteore (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin meteorum (nominative meteora), from Greek ta meteōra “the celestial phenomena, things in heaven above,” plural of meteōron, literally “thing high up,” noun use of neuter of meteōros (adj.) “high up, raised from the ground, hanging,” from meta “by means of” + -aoros “lifted, lifted up, suspended, hovering in air,” related to aeirein “to raise” (from PIE root *wer- (1) “to raise, lift, hold suspended”).
– shower (n) Old English scur “a short fall of rain, storm, tempest; fall of missiles or blows; struggle, commotion; breeze,” from Proto-Germanic *skuraz (source also of Old Norse skur, Old Saxon and Old Frisian scur “fit of illness;” Old High German scur, German Schauer “shower, downpour;” Gothic skura, in skura windis “windstorm”), from PIE root *kew-(e)ro- “north, north wind” (source also of Latin caurus “northwest wind;” Old Church Slavonic severu “north, north wind;” Lithuanian šiaurus “raging, stormy,” šiaurys “north wind,” šiaurė “north”).
2. A number of meteors that appear to radiate from one point in the sky at a particular date each year, due to the earth regularly passing through them at that position in its orbit.
3. A meteor is a space rock—or meteoroid—that enters Earth’s atmosphere. As the space rock falls toward Earth, the resistance—or drag—of the air on the rock makes it extremely hot. What we see is a “shooting star.” That bright streak is not actually the rock, but rather the glowing hot air as the hot rock zips through the atmosphere.
When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a meteor shower.
As a comet gets closer to the sun, some of its icy surface boils off, releasing lots of particles of dust and rock. This comet debris gets strewn out along the comet’s path, especially in the inner solar system (where we live) as the sun’s heat boils off more and more ice and debris. Then, several times each year as Earth makes its journey around the sun, its orbit crosses the orbit of a comet, which means Earth smacks into a bunch of comet debris.
S: 1. OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=shower (last access:20 January, 2021 ). 2. OD- https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ (last access:20 January, 2021 ). 3. NASA- https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/meteor-shower/en/ (last access:20 January, 2021).
SYN: 1. meteor swarm, shower of meteors, swarm of meteoric bodies. 2. meteoric shower. 3. falling star, shooting star. (depending on context)
S: 1. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=METEOR+SHOWER&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 22 January 2021). 2. UNTERM – https://unterm.un.org/unterm/display/record/wmo/na?OriginalId=7cbc6672-363f-4d17-aafa-471de443e809 (last access: 22 January 2021). 3. COSNAUTAS/LIBRO ROJO (last access: 22 January 2021).
CR: stratosphere
