I found a new meteor shower — and it comes from an asteroid getting baked to bits by the sun
All over Earth, every night, thousands of automated stargazers wait to take photos of shooting stars. I am one of the scientists who study these meteors.
Most movies and news alerts focus on large asteroidthings that could destroy the Earth. And your phones alert you every few months that something nine washing machines wide is going to narrowly pass. However, the small bits of dust and rubble that enter our atmosphere daily tell an equally interesting story.
In a study published in March 2026, I combed through millions of meteor observations collected by all-sky camera networks based in Canada, Japan, California and Europe and found a small, recently formed cluster. The 282 meteors associated with this cluster tell the story of an asteroid that got a little too close to the sun.
Meteor formation
When a sand-sized crumb of space rock hits our atmosphere, it heats up almost instantly, vaporizing its surface layer and turning it into an electrically charged gas. The whole fragment begins to glow — this is what we call a meteor. If the object is larger, like a rock, and brighter, it is called a fireball or fireball. On average, these objects hit our atmosphere more than 15 miles per second. For small objects the size of dust or sand, the entire process lasts only a fraction of a second before they disappear completely.
Most of these sand-sized fragments in the solar system come from comets — cold and icy objects coming from the far reaches of the solar system. When comets pass in front of the sun, their icy components turn into gas, releasing tons of dust. This is why comets are often called “dirty snowballs” and appear blurry in telescopic images.
Asteroids, on the other hand, are remains of the first solar system which formed closer to the sun. They are dry and rocky, and do not have the same ices that give comets their characteristic tails.
What does it mean to be active?
Astronomers call an asteroid or comet “active” when it releases dust, gas, or larger fragments. This activity is caused by an external force exerted on the object in space, such as heat from the sun, a small impact, or when asteroids spin too fast and separate.
Understanding and identifying activity helps scientists better understand how these objects change over time.
For comets, ice sublimation – when solid ice turns directly into gas, skipping the liquid phase – is the main culprit. However, for asteroids, the reason for their activity can vary greatly.
For example, NASA OSIRIS-REx missionwho launched into space to study an asteroid named Bennusaw activity from its surface, with thermal stress and small impacts among the main explanations.
Other sources for asteroid activity include breakup when an asteroid spins too fast, tidal forces tearing asteroids apart during close encounters with a planet, or the release of gas.
Researchers most often look for activities using telescopes. Astronomers can look for a “tail” or blur around the object. This tail is a clear sign that there is gas and dust around the body. But there is another way to search for an activity: meteor showers.
Finding hidden asteroids via meteor showers
The most famous active asteroid is 3200 Phaeton. It is the parent body of the Geminids meteor shower which occurs each year in mid-December. During previous close approaches to the sun, Phaethon released large amounts of dust and larger fragments. These pieces of Phaethon spread throughout its orbit over time, leading to the current Geminid meteor stream.
Every meteor shower we observe occurs when Earth passes through one of these debris streams. So if astronomers can detect meteor showers, they can also be used to search for active objects in space.
At first, debris thrown off by an asteroid or comet moves closely together. Imagine squeezing a single drop of food coloring into a moving stream of water: initially, the dye stays in a tight, concentrated cloud. But as it flows, the swirling currents of the water attract the dye, causing it to spread and discolor.
In space, the the gravitational tugs of passing planets act like these currents. They pull on individual meteor fragments in slightly different ways, causing the once-tight stream to gradually drift until it becomes completely diluted. in the background dust of our solar system.
The discovery of a rocky comet
In a study published in March 2026 in the Astrophysical Journal, I used millions of meteor observations to search for recent, unknown activity from asteroids near Earth. I found a clear group of 282 meteors that stood out.
What makes this discovery so exciting is that we are essentially witnessing a hidden asteroid being blown to pieces. This recently confirmed meteor stream follows an extreme orbit that dips almost five times closer to the Sun than Earth.
Based on the way these meteors break up when they hit our atmosphere, we can tell that they are moderately fragile, but stronger than comets. This discovery tells us that the intense solar heat is literally cracking the surface of the asteroid, burning the trapped gases and causing it to collapse. This is probably a major source of past Phaethon activity and the main why meteorites on Earth are so diverse.
Finding the source
Why is it important to find a hidden, ruined asteroid? Meteor observations act as a particularly sensitive probe that allows us to study objects that are completely invisible to traditional telescopes.
Beyond solving astronomical mysteries, the analysis of this debris helps us understand the physical evolution of asteroids and comets in our solar system. More importantly, it reveals hidden populations of near-Earth asteroids, providing vital information for planetary defense.
The parent asteroid of the new meteor shower remains elusive. However, NASA NEO Surveyor Missionlaunched in 2027, offers a promising solution. This space telescope, dedicated to planetary defense and the discovery of dark and dangerous asteroids approaching the sun, will be the ideal tool to search for the origin of the star.
This edited article is republished from The conversation under Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
