Listening to meteors

If you've been a little less than dazzled by the Perseid meteor shower that was more like a light sprinkle, here's something that should make up for it a little.

The fine folks at the U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas recorded the sound of the meteors as they passed overhead. There is a lot of background noise, but you can definitely hear the swoosh as the meteors pass by, and the whistling echo as they pass through the atmosphere. The first photograph in the video was taken by astronaut Ron Garan, who is aboard the International Space Station, and had a much better view.



The projected count for the peak was 120 meteors per hour, or two a minute. The final count I saw was 25 per hour, or one every three minutes.