How Do Meteors Sound When They Shatter Against The Atmosphere?

Last weekend the Perseids hit all over Earth’s atmosphere. A USAF Space Surveillance Radar in Texas recorded their sound as they passed by, disintegrating in a million pieces. They sound like alien spaceships. Or bloody Nazi UFOs.

The recordings were made by the USSSTRATCOM antenna in Lake Kickapoo, Texas, part of the 20th Space Control Squadron, Detachment 1, which operates the Air Force Space Surveillance System from headquarters in Dahlgren, Virginia. The radar system can detect objects from 10 centimeters (four inches) at heights up to 30,000km.

The Perseids is an spectacular meteor shower that happens every year, as the Earth passes the debris left by the comet Swift-Tuttle. The debris cloud is made of particles ejected by the comet on its 130-year orbit. [Thanks Karl!]


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