Has anyone seen a shooting star?

Question

Have you seen a shooting star before. If so how many in your life do you think? I've actually seen about 10 in my life and im 19 now. I know its quite rare to see one. I think ive been quite lucky. Its cool though. What about you?

Answer 1

I have seen many of them. If you go to Las Vegas in August, and then drive out side of town by about 30 miles, in the evening, you can see one every minute or so. This is the time the Perseids showers are most seen. Below I have extracted information on it from a website. I think everyone would find it amazing just like you and me!

The Perseids are probably the most-watched annual meteor shower. The shower has a very long duration, from about July 15 through August 25. The shower is most interesting around its peak on August 12 or 13. This year, the Moon is perfectly placed and will not interfere for several days before and after the maximum. The shower's normal peak time favors observers from eastern North America to western Europe, but everyone should get a good show on peak night.

The radiant is above the horizon the entire night for observers north of latitude 32N, but it is fairly low at the end of evening twilight. Evening Perseid rates are low, then, but there are usually enough meteors to be interesting. Serious observers will watch all night long.

Predawn rates for observers with truly dark skies may exceed 80 Perseids per hour, with a nice sprinkling of sporadic and minor shower meteors added to the mix. Adjacent mornings from August 10 through August 15 are well worth watching, although rates will be significantly lower (down to 10 Perseids/hour at the extremes).

Perseids are fast meteors and tend to be fairly bright on average. An occasional fireball is seen.

Answer 2

Yes

A "falling star" or a "shooting star" has nothing at all to do with a star! These amazing streaks of light you can sometimes see in the night sky are caused by tiny bits of dust and rock called meteoroids falling into the Earth's atmosphere and burning up. The short-lived trail of light the burning meteoroid produces is called a meteor. Meteors are commonly called falling stars or shooting stars. If any part of the meteoroid survives burning up and actually hits the Earth, that remaining bit is then called a meteorite.

At certain times of year, you are likely to see a great number of meteors in the night sky. These events are called meteor showers and they occur when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet as it orbits the Sun. These showers are given names based on the constellation present in the sky from which they appear to originate. For example, the Leonid Meteor Shower, or Leonids, appear to originate in the constellation Leo. It is important to understand that the meteoroids (and therefore the meteors) do not really originate from the constellations or any of the stars in the constellations, however. They just seem to come from that part of the sky because of the way the Earth encounters the particles moving in the path of the comet's orbit. Associating the shower name with the region of the sky they seem to come from just helps astronomers know where to look!

Answer 3

Shooting stars arn't that rare. There are periods when increased activity occurs. The Leonid meteor showers occur in the UK every mid november in the constellation of Leo (hence the name Leonid). As the earth passes through the remenants of a comets trail the frequency of shooting stars increases. Not sure about the Leonids time anywhere else, but there are other predictable meteor showers. Just check local astronomy depts. for dates and times.

Answer 4

A shooting star is the common name for the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the atmosphere. It is not that uncommon, but we don't see it that often because we can only notice it during night time and is easier to see it if you live in the country or if you're camping. I've seen more than 20.

Answer 5

I have seen many. Too many to count. I remember seeing fifteen or twenty really bright ones over the course of two nights of sky-watching during the Perseid metor shower in 1998. If I had to guess I would say I have seen about 75 - 100 in my 40 + years on Earth.

Answer 6

no, what people think is a shooting star is actually a fragment of a asteroid or some other cosmic debris that has been pulled into our atmosphere and burns up in the process or skips off the planets atmosphere and still causes some heat /fire which looks like a shooting star to our eyes, if a star were to get close enough to this planet , it would collide and we would all be reduced to atoms,

Answer 7

I have seen loads, cant think how many, the best thing i saw was about four years ago, i was standing in the back garden at about 3ish in the morning and i saw a large fireball in the sky, it was very quick and a few moments later i heard a roaring noise which must have been from the meteor.

Answer 8

Yes I have seen about 11 or 12. It´s beautiful and cool. And yes I make a wish with every star I saw!

Answer 9

If you are far out and away from street light -and clouds- you would be able to quite a few.
They are rather normal I often see 10-20 when spending the night in nature, camping.

check out "meteor shower" on the net, I think the next one is 12th August if you are one the northern hemisphere. Beautiful. happens every 30 year this one.

well, I love them and run out of wishes.
Remember. far away from light to get a clear sky

Answer 10

Shooting stars or meteors to give them there proper name are quite common especially at certain times of the year. I have on one occasion seen a satellite re-entery this is in fact much more spectacular.