[Stones] New discovery at Achnabreck

[Maggie & Keith]

> And when I said I'd seen many comets - rubbish!  Sorry, folks!  I was
> thinking shooting stars!  Duh!  Comets.  Yes.  Never seen one of those do
> owt more than look beautiful for a few nights in the sky...  ;)

Actually you were partly right first time! A lot of "shooting stars", particularly 
those in "showers" are caused by the earth entering the dust trails of 
comets.

For instance, the well known Perseid shower which peaks in the middle of 
August is caused by the dust trail of comet Swift-Tuttle. The more famous 
Halley's comet is responsible for the Orionid shower which occurs in late 
October.

The dust trails can outlast the parent comets, so we still see meteor showers 
long after the comet has outgassed all of its volatiles and no longer 
produces a tail. An example of this phenonemon is the Geminid shower 
which is thought to be associated with the suspected extinct comet remnant 
3200 Phaethon.

So, a lot of shooting stars are actually bits of comet hitting our atmosphere.

Maggie & Keith



MEGALITHICS - VR Panoramas in, on, and under megalithic sites in the 
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