NASA Researcher Discovers New Meteor Shower From Disintegrating Asteroid

Astronomer Patrick M. Shober and his planetary science colleagues have identified a new meteor shower resulting from an asteroid that is disintegrating due to its proximity to the sun.

The discovery was detailed in a study published in March 2026. The findings are based on the analysis of millions of meteor observations captured by all-sky camera networks located in Europe, California, Japan, and Canada.

Analysis of the Meteor Cluster

Through the use of camera observations of the night sky, the research team identified a small, recently formed cluster consisting of 282 meteors. These observations allow scientists to better understand debris from comets, car-sized asteroids, and dust within the solar system.

The data indicates that this specific cluster is the result of an asteroid that moved too close to the sun, causing it to break down and release the material that creates the meteor shower.

The Science of Meteor Formation

Meteors are formed when sand-sized crumbs of space rock enter the Earth’s atmosphere. These fragments heat up almost instantly, which vaporizes the surface layer and transforms it into an electrically charged gas, causing the fragment to glow.

The characteristics of these objects vary based on their size and brightness:

• Small dust or sand-sized objects typically disappear within a fraction of a second.
• Larger, brighter objects, such as boulders, are classified as fireballs or bolides.
• On average, these objects enter the atmosphere at speeds exceeding 15 miles per second.

Asteroids Versus Comets

The study highlights the distinction between the origins of most meteor showers and this new discovery. Most sand-sized fragments in the solar system originate from comets, which are icy objects from the outer reaches of the solar system.

Comets are often described as dirty snowballs because their icy components turn into gas as they pass the sun, releasing significant amounts of dust and creating a fuzzy appearance in telescopic images.

In contrast, asteroids are remnants from the early solar system that formed closer to the sun. While most news and media focus on large asteroids that pose a potential threat to Earth, researchers emphasize that the daily entry of small rubble and dust into the atmosphere provides essential scientific data.

Additional context regarding asteroid behavior is seen in the case of 3200 Phaethon. NASA’s STEREO spacecraft observed this specific asteroid sprouting a tail during close passes to the sun in 2012 and 2009, illustrating how solar proximity can alter an asteroid’s physical state.