New App Helps NASA Keep Track of Meteoroids

Dec. 13, 2011: Surprising but true: Every day, on average, more than 40 tons of meteoroids strike our planet.  Most are tiny specks of comet dust that disintegrate harmlessly high up in Earth's atmosphere, producing a slow drizzle of meteors in the night sky.  Bigger chunks of asteroid and comet debris yield dozens of nightly fireballs around the globe. Some are large enough to pepper the ground with actual meteorites.
With so much "stuff" zeroing in on our planet, NASA could use some help keeping track of it all.
Enter the Meteor Counter--a new iPhone app designed to harness the power of citizen scientists to keep track of meteoroids.
"Using our app, people from all walks of life can contribute to authentic NASA research," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, which sponsored the project. "The data will help us discover new meteor showers, pinpoint comet debris streams, and map the distribution of meteoroids around Earth's orbit."

MORE: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/13dec_meteorcounter/

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