History of Meteor shower in Timeline

A meteor shower is a celestial event where numerous meteors appear to originate from a single point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by meteoroids, small cosmic debris, entering Earth's atmosphere at high speeds and burning up. Most meteoroids are tiny and disintegrate before hitting the ground. Intense showers are called meteor outbursts or storms, with over 1,000 meteors per hour, the Leonids being a prominent example. The Meteor Data Centre lists many suspected showers, and organizations like NASA provide viewing information.

1911: Death of George Johnstone Stoney

In 1911, Irish astronomer George Johnstone Stoney, who attempted to calculate the position of dust at Earth's orbit, died.

1917: Death of Arthur Matthew Weld Downing

In 1917, British astronomer Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, who attempted to calculate the position of dust at Earth's orbit, died.

1951: Whipple demonstrates water vapor drag

In 1951, Fred Whipple demonstrated that comets can produce debris by water vapor drag, envisioning them as "dirty snowballs".

1966: Leonid meteor storms in 1966

Leonid storms happened in 1966, with rates of thousands of meteors per hour.

1981: Donald K. Yeomans reviews Leonid meteor showers

In 1981, Donald K. Yeomans of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory reviewed the history of meteor showers for the Leonids and the history of the dynamic orbit of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, showing the relative positions of the Earth and Tempel-Tuttle.

1985: Identification of Leonid meteor storm dust release years

In 1985, E. D. Kondrat'eva and E. A. Reznikov of Kazan State University first correctly identified the years when dust was released, which was responsible for several past Leonid meteor storms.

1994: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact on Jupiter

In 1994, Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impacted Jupiter, forming a brief trail.

1995: Prediction of Alpha Monocerotids outburst

In 1995, Peter Jenniskens predicted the 1995 Alpha Monocerotids outburst from dust trails.

1995: Demonstration of planetary gravitational pull effect

In 1995, The effect of planetary gravitational pull on dust trail locations was demonstrated from observations of the alpha Monocerotids.

1999: Application of dust trail method to Leonid storm prediction

In anticipation of the 1999 Leonid storm, Robert H. McNaught, David Asher, and Finland's Esko Lyytinen were the first to apply this method in the West.