NASA Scientist Discovers New Meteor Shower from Sun-Baked Asteroid
A NASA postdoctoral fellow in planetary sciences has discovered a new meteor shower originating from an asteroid that is disintegrating due to intense solar heat. The discovery was made by analyzing millions of meteor observations from all-sky camera networks across Canada, Japan, California, and Europe. The study, published in March 2026, identified a cluster of 282 meteors linked to an asteroid that orbits extremely close to the sun. This proximity causes the asteroid's surface to crack and release gases, leading to its gradual disintegration. The meteors from this cluster are moderately fragile, indicating that the intense solar heat is a significant factor in their formation. This discovery provides insights into the physical evolution of asteroids and comets in the solar system and highlights the potential for meteor observations to reveal hidden populations of near-Earth asteroids. 
