It was a warm, dark night in Britain. Right as they were about to sit down & eat, young Johnny had something to tell his mother...
Cheerio, mother! I do say, I simply must go and shower before I eat my supper.
Why can't you wait, son?
There is something very important going on right now.
What on Earth does that have to do with a shower?
Why are you going outside? The washroom is upstairs, Johnny.
If you follow me, mum, you will see this "shower" that I am speaking of.
See? It's a meteor shower! These don't happen very often, but the reason for which they occur is very interesting. We learned about it today in class!
Johnny explains to his mum that a meteor shower occurs as a result of an interaction between a planet (such as Earth) and streams of debris from a comet. Each time that a comet swings by the sun in its orbit, some of its ice vaporizes. From that, meteorids are shed at extremely high speeds, shooting through the night sky.
Wow, that is intriguing! Let's go eat now, before our food gets cold.