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Meteor Showers
Most meteors are tiny flecks of cosmic dust that strike the Earth's atmosphere in random directions. But there are also collections of dust and grains of rock (meteoroids) that orbit in streams around the Sun. When the Earth's orbit crosses one of these streams, we might have a sudden meteor shower.
Meteoroid streams form along the orbits of comets, which release dust and debris as the Sun evaporates their ices. Some of them repeat every year at the same time. These are named according to the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate (the radiant of the swarm). We have the Leonids from Leo, the Orionids from Orion, and many others.
The most intense meteor showers are spectacular meteor storms, where dozens or even hundreds of meteors flash across the sky every minute.

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