This definitive guide provides advanced students and researchers with a detailed yet accessible overview of all of the central topics of meteor science. Leading figures from the field summarise their active research on themes ranging from the physical composition of meteoroids to the most recent optical and radar observations and ongoing theoretical developments. Crucial practical issues are also considered, such as the risk posed by meteoroids - to spacecraft, and on the ground - and future avenues of research are explored. Taking advantage of the latest dynamical models, insights are offered into meteor flight phenomena and the evolution of meteoroid streams and complexes, as well as describing the in-depth laboratory analysis of recovered material. The rapid rate of progress in twenty-first-century research makes this volume essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand how recent developments broaden our understanding of meteors, meteoroids and their origins.

'... this book is not only beautifully produced but is also comprehensive, authoritative, accessible, specialized, and up to date. It is an excellent introduction, at an advanced-student level, to a fascinating subject, and one that still holds many mysteries.'

David W. Hughes Source: The Observatory

'‘Meteoroids are small bits of rock and ice that flare into meteors (shooting stars) when they impact atmospheres … this book showcases important recent developments. Since 2000, a revolution in dynamical studies, supported by the assembly of large data sets, has allowed researchers to correlate major meteor showers with parent bodies and improve prediction of their activity. The first lunar impact flash wasn’t confirmed until 1999, but now the subject merits a chapter of its own! Nevertheless, understanding the nature and behavior of meteoroids is still constrained in many ways, especially regarding how they fragment while traversing the atmosphere. Twelve coauthored chapters are grouped into five subject-related sections: meteor physics, meteor observations on Earth, exometeors, sources of meteoroids (the longest section), and finally the hazards posed by meteoroids in space and on Earth. Written primarily for specialists, [the] chapters are exhaustively referenced …’

B. M. Simonson Source: Choice