Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife

I am drawn to the mystique of shooting stars. If I remember correctly they are most often seen in August, or is that just when I noticed them? I understand that it is the remnants of a star burning out and actually it occured hundreds of light years ago. Can any one give me a more correct description of them?

I think you are confusing shooting stars and supernova. Shooting stars are meteoroids burning up in the Earth's atmosphere which leave a streak of light behind them as they travel at high speed. Tonnes of material falls on the Earth each day, but you only see shooting stars from the largest meteorites. Most of these meteroids are asteroids, although a meteor shower is when the Earth passes through the huge tail of a passing comet. So shooting stars, despite the name, have nothing to do with stars at all. It is just a name left over from when less was known about the skies.

When you look at any star (excluding the sun), you are looking at it as it was in the past because light has a finite speed and takes time to get to the Earth. Very rarely a bright star appears in the sky, often not naked to the visible eye, which is the explosion of a star "burning out". This is called a supernova.

I love shooting stars too, they are so beautiful to see, and are gone so quickly your often let wondering if it was really there at all!

One thing I've always wondered is what's the difference between a meteoroid and a meteorite?

Thank you for a very concise explanation of shooting stars, and feel a little embarrassed at misunderstanding them previously. However it brings this forum into its own, helping each other to greater understanding of our world. Is astronomy a hobby of yours?

A meteor is a piece of stellar matter that enters our atmosphere and burns up, showing as a streak of light in the sky, a meteoroid is a meteor before it hits the atmosphere and a meteorite is a piece of material which reaches the ground without burning up.

There, now you know as much as I do!!

No need to be embarrassed, I'm in the same boat as you with this sort of thing!

Thanks for clearing that up! It makes sense to me now, I thought they must have all slightly different meanings.

I've never seen a shooting star before, but always wanted to. Is there a time when they are a more common sight?
And how visible is it? I mean could you mistake it for an airplane or is it very clear?

There are several times of year when shooting stars are most visible, one of the astronomy web sites will tell you when, cos I can't remember dates. Every so often, our planet goes through a shower of meteorites, which are named after constellations - such as Leonids or Perseids - because if you follow the track of the meteorite back, it appears to have originated from that constellation. During the eclpise in 1999, which I saw from the Lizard in Cornwall, we spent several dark evenings laying on the grass just staring into the sky. Plenty of meteorites and occasional satellites.

If you want to see them, either lay on the ground or in a lounger, because that way you don't get a crick in the neck, on a moonless night and just look at the sky. No need for binoculars unless you want a closer look at some of the objects. It's very relaxing, all you need to do is make sure you don't fall asleep!!

Here we are, a synopsis of the meteor showers with the date of highest occurence. They are usually present for several days either side of the given date.

January 3 Quadrantids 40 per hour
April 21 Lyrids 15 per hour
May 4 Eta Aquarids 20 per hour
July 28 Delta Aquarids 20 per hour
August 11 Perseids 50 per hour
October 21 Orionids 25 per hour
November 3 South Taurids 15 per hour
November 17 Leonids 15 per hour
December 13 Geminids 50 per hour
December 22 Ursids 15 per hour

So get out your Planisphere, work out where the constellation is and go out and enjoy the sight. If you live in a dark area, put a wide angle lens on your camera, put it on a tripod and point it vertically. Leave the shutter open for 30 minutes at a time and see what you get.

They are quite visible, and you are not likely to mistake one for an airplane. Look for brilliant streaks of light. They start abruptly, and end abruptly. Sometimes you catch one out of the side of your eye, and then you start noticing more of them.

The easiest one to catch is generally the August 11 Perseids. It's generally warm out, so it's not too cold to go and watch, and there are quite a few per hour.

Kingfisher

you mean the star that fulfills your wish.

I haven't managed to have any fulfill my wishes yet, but there's always a next time, and as the Perseids will be starting soon, perhaps I will have an opportunity to try again .

Welcome to Wildlife UK, versace!

Kingfisher

I was looking at the sky on Fri 16th Nov between 11-12 in canterbury and saw a couple of normal shooting stars but then saw a HUGE blue one. I've never seen anything like it before. Just wondered if anyone else had seen it or could tell me what it was? I think it may have been a fireball.

Hi Oli, welcome to the forums!

The meteor shower called the Leonids was going on (and still is) on the 11-12, so that may have been part of the shower that you saw. The streaks are bits of the comets tail which are burning up in the earths atmosphere, so the large blue one may have been a particularly large piece of debris. Hope that helps!

Thank you, that's what it seemed like to me. Do you know how rare this kind of thing is? I've seen a fair few shooting stars before but never anything like that.