Idaho Skies Transcript for August 3rd, 4th, and 5th

RACHEL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for August 3rd, 4th, and 5th. We’re your hosts, Rachel...


PAUL
...and Paul.


RACHEL
The nights are warm and the meteors are plentiful.


PAUL
That’s because July and August has a large share of meteor showers.


RACHEL
The meteors stargazers see during the summer originated from comets.


PAUL
That’s because as comets approach the sun, the sun’s light warms their cold surfaces.


RACHEL
However, there’s no air in space, so the ices don’t melt into a liquid.


PAUL
Instead, the ices sublimate into a gas just as dry does on your table.


RACHEL
The gas jets carry dust particles away from the comet’s icy surface, or nucleus.


PAUL
And that dust remains in the same orbit as the comet.


RACHEL
Astronomers call those dust motes meteoroids.


PAUL
It’s when Earth’s motion intersect the orbit of meteoroids that we get to see a meteor shower.


RACHEL
Meteoroids are small; some in fact are only the size of a grain of rice.


PAUL
So they have very low mass.


RACHEL
But they’re traveling through the rarefied air at hypersonic speeds.


PAUL
Which means they have tremendous amounts of kinetic energy.


RACHEL
And that lets them create a powerful shock wave ahead of the dust grain.


PAUL
The shock waves created by hypersonic meteoroids glow white hot.


RACHEL
And that heat radiates back into the meteoroid to roast and melt it.


PAUL
Which causes most meteoroids to vaporize some 60 to 80 miles above the ground.


RACHEL
Our eyes are not sensitive or fast enough to see the glowing meteoroid or shock wave.


PAUL
Instead, we see a moving streak of light that we call a meteor. 


RACHEL
If a meteoroid originates from an asteroid, than it can be large enough to survive its passage through the atmosphere.


PAUL
Then we call that surviving rock a meteorite.


RACHEL
But if it’s really an Earth rock and not a meteorite, then we call it a meteor-wrong.


PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of August.


RACHEL
Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com.


For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...


PAUL
...and Paul.


RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.