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Re: Lyrid Meteor Shower reminder

Hi Al,

Thank you for pointing out something that has eluded  my novice mind.
Let me clarify what you said and see if I have it:  Meteor showers
contain only grain size pieces of debris from a comet set free by the
heating process and really are not in the same league as meteors of
larger size which may be debris from a comet, early formation of solar
system, result of collision, or from the infamous Asteroid belt formerly
known as Planet X.   (Yes, I'm still on that.)   Further, they orbit
stars not planets - and they do this parallel to each other.   It would
seem then that when,  in the outermost reaches of the solar system and
are heated by impact, star, whatever, that at the moment of release they
might indeed 'radiate' since the source of their release is heat.  At
some point then in their approach to a gravitational pull they become
orbital and therefore, parallel.  This means that the railroad track
analogy does not hold up since originally the debris most probably
radiated or flew off in random directions, not parallel.  Does that
sound about right?   (It seems they should be called  'comet debris
showers' for distinction)

Best regards,
Julia