Shooting star are one of the most awe - inspire astronomic events we can witness on a regular basis . Meteor showers recur every class and they are named after the constellation they seem to originate from . However , according to a new report , they are actually coming from a different direction every night .
The NASA - backed CAMS ( Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance ) task has been tracking more than 300 meteor exhibitioner over the past seven days . In doing so , it has see that the showers ' point of parentage moves over the time the Earth passes through the dust clouds and cometary sherd that make up the meteors .
The squad shoot over 300,000 meteoroid trajectory using 60 low - light video tv camera over the San Francisco Bay Area . They then selected 45 cascade with an uttermost range of apparent motion to be visualized in anincredible animation .
" I was most surprised by some exhibitioner that were initially seen close to the plane of the planets , but then go up towards the rod over the line of weeks , " CAMS projection leader Dr Peter Jenniskens , from the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center , say in astatement .
For many of these meteor shower , the Earth ’s gravity is enough to move the orbit of the streams . A adept lesson is the Perseids that peak around August 10 . They appear to radiate from the constellation of Perseus , but CAMS first detected the Perseids on July 1 from Cassiopeia and the last , on September 3 , from the constellation of the Giraffe ( Camelopardalis ) .
“ The small daily gallery of the Perseids is mostly due to Earth ’s movement around the Sun , " added Jenniskens . " But after taking that into chronicle , 18 scant - period and 27 long - period of time exhibitioner are still seen to digress from night to dark . "
The researchers suspect that a larger and more influential satellite is behind the changes . Jupiter is the likely culprit as some of these shower extend all the direction to its orbit .
" Jupiter ’s gravity is likely responsible for for warp these meteor streams by causing both the orientation course of the orbital carpenter’s plane and the distance of closest approach to the Sun to vary , " Jenniskens stated . " The compounding of the two create conditions suitable for make Earth over weeks or months . "
The inquiry has been accept for publication in the journal Planetary Space Science and can be readhere .
