World’s first artificial METEOR SHOWER will take place in 2025 over Japan

By William On Mar 30, 2023

You better start saving your wishes now, because hundreds of shooting stars will be flying across the sky in 2025 – after falling from a satellite.

These will form the world’s first artificial meteor shower by space start-up ALE, which will take place over Japan.

Shooting stars appear when Earth passes through a cloud of debris left in its orbit by comets and asteroids.

The particles emit light because they heat up quickly as they pass through the atmosphere at high speed.

For this project, called ‘SKY CANVAS’, meteor-replicating particles will be installed in a satellite at an altitude of 400 km and then released over a designated area.

The world’s first artificial meteor shower takes place over Japan by space start-up ALE

For this project, called ‘SKY CANVAS’, particles will be installed in a satellite at an altitude of 400 km and then released over a designated area. Pictured: ALE-1 satellite

These metal particles are spheres with a diameter of 0.4 inches (1 cm) and a mass of a few grams.

WHAT ARE SHOOTING STARS?

Shooting stars are the appearance of meteors — small pieces of dust or rock — passing through Earth’s atmosphere.

They emit light because they heat up quickly as they travel through the air at high speed.

There are between six and ten ‘sporadic’ meteors per night throughout the year, but this increases dramatically during a ‘meteor shower’.

Showers occur when Earth passes through a large debris cloud left in its orbit by comets and asteroids.

The pea-sized balls have a secret chemical formula that causes them to light up through the friction of reentry, at speeds of up to 5 miles per second.

ALE says they will travel slower and glow longer than natural shooting stars — up to ten seconds each.

They will be visible to stargazers in an area of 200 km.

The ingredients in the pellets can be changed to change the color of each clear stripe, meaning a multicolored fleet of shooting stars can be created.

After about two years in orbit, the backpack-sized satellite will re-enter the atmosphere and disintegrate completely, preventing it from becoming space debris.

The light show is not only for the viewing pleasure of stargazers, but also helps to collect data about the third layer of the Earth’s atmosphere – the ‘mesosphere’.

This is not an easy region to study, as weather balloons and airplanes cannot fly high enough to reach it, but it is too low to be observed by satellites.

But scientists will be able to gather information about wind speed and atmospheric composition by tracking the path and light emission of the artificial meteors.

ALE engineers will be able to control the position, speed and timing of the meteors to aid in experiments.

The pea-sized balls have a secret chemical formula that causes them to light up through the friction of reentry, at speeds of up to 5 miles per second

The team hopes the data will help inform weather models and ultimately expand our understanding of climate change.

Another goal of the project, which was first announced in 2015, is to stimulate a greater interest in space travel and science in general.

Dr. Lena Okajima, founder and CEO of ALE, said: ‘Our goal is to contribute to the sustainable development of humanity and to bring space closer to all of us, by expanding the field of human activity beyond Earth to discover, collect and apply essential information. data from space.

“As a first step, I founded ALE to create the world’s first man-made shooting star, to inspire wonder and arouse scientific curiosity.

Engineers at ALE can control the position, speed and timing of the meteors to aid in experiments (artist’s impression)

Another aim of the project, which was first announced in 2015, is to stimulate a greater interest in space and science in general (artist’s impression)

“By combining critical climate research with a new form of space entertainment in the future, we believe we can advance our scientific understanding of climate change while arousing curiosity and interest among people around the world about space and the universe.”

Those who wish to support the project financially can do so by purchasing a SKY CANVAS VIP PASS NFT.

This gives access to online viewings and the opportunity to win an invitation to watch the SKY CANVAS show in person.

These are not currently available and their price has not been disclosed

Explained: the difference between an asteroid, meteorite and other space rocks

A asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt.

a comet is a rock covered with ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much further out of the solar system.

a meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns.

This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small that they evaporate into the atmosphere.

If one of these meteoroids reaches Earth, it will become one meteorite.

Meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites normally originate from asteroids and comets.

For example, if Earth passes through the tail of a comet, much of the debris in the atmosphere burns up and forms a meteor shower.