did anyone see the shooting star last nite?

Question

my viewpoint was from virginia and i was just wondering if anyone had any details such as how large and how close it came to earth.

Answer 1

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. A shooting star isn't actually a star, it's just a meteor burning up in Earth's atmosphere. They all either burn up or hitting the ground. No one would know how close it came (unless it hits the ground). Also, meteors can come at any time so there are thousands every day. You probably just happened to see that one. Also on a dark, clear night you should be able to look at a spot in the sky for half an hour and see a few streaks of light.

Answer 2

I can give you an idea how close it came: All shooting stars come within 60 miles or so of the earth. That's because that's about where the top of the atmosphere is, and if you're able to see them "shoot", it means they've hit the top of the atmosphere and are starting to burn up.

Shooting stars (they're actually called meteors) occur by the thousands all over the earth every night (and during the day too, though you can't see them). Most of the ones you see are about the size of a peanut (but are still quite visible), and completely burn up in the atmosphere before they hit the ground. Occasionally a really big one (maybe the size of a basketball) will make it all the way to the earth. Meteors that size will make a huge blaze as they streak across the sky.

Don't know which category the thing you saw belongs in; but I do know that even the basketball-sized meteors are common enough that they're not considered newsworthy.

Answer 3

That wasn't a star, that was the alien ship landing in that region. We had one come down in our area also. The aliens got the date for Independence Day a little off this year.