Shooting stars

[dank]

I saw at least five last year and three this year and I thought that was a lot.  But in five minutes outside I just saw twelve of them tonight!

How many have you seen recently?

Any knowledge as to why they appear and disappear out of nowhere?

[yasircheema]

i have seen often shooting stars but not as much as you have seen in the last five minutes.

[dank]

Now that I think about it, I think I saw 13 as I thought I saw one when I first stepped outside, slightly obscured by a tree.

13 shooting stars on friday the 13th.

What does this mean?

[Foxpup]

Any knowledge as to why they appear and disappear out of nowhere?

Seriously? I'd have thought you of all people would have a keen understanding of the boundless wonders of the universe. Shooting stars (or meteors) are not actually stars, but flying rocks... from SPACE! Some of these space rocks happen to be flying straight towards Earth (or Earth is flying straight into them, depending on your point of view). When they enter the Earth's atmosphere, friction with the air causes them to heat up to the point where they start glowing brightly. But friction also slows them down, and as they slow down, there's less friction and they cool off, and they stop glowing and you can't see them anymore, assuming they haven't already vaporised or exploded by this point. (Yes, I've actually seen a meteor explode. It's pretty spectacular.)

[dank]

Yeah I may have known that when I was younger but nonetheless I looked it up and got a good understanding of them now.  I was thinking they were actually stars though so it complexed me as to why they didn't go across the whole sky.

Though I love space, I'm more familiar with the astral planes of the universe than the physical.

[ajax3592]

  I can see only blurry lines when there is a shooting star in sky. I have myopia and don't like to wear glasses.

[u9y42]

Seriously? I'd have thought you of all people would have a keen understanding of the boundless wonders of the universe. Shooting stars (or meteors) are not actually stars, but flying rocks... from SPACE! Some of these space rocks happen to be flying straight towards Earth (or Earth is flying straight into them, depending on your point of view). When they enter the Earth's atmosphere, friction with the air causes them to heat up to the point where they start glowing brightly. But friction also slows them down, and as they slow down, there's less friction and they cool off, and they stop glowing and you can't see them anymore, assuming they haven't already vaporised or exploded by this point. (Yes, I've actually seen a meteor explode. It's pretty spectacular.)

Actually, friction with the air is not the reason for the glow. Rather, the glow is due to the air being compressed in front of the meteor and heating up.

According to wikipedia: "[...] a meteor traveling through the Earth's atmosphere produces a shock wave generated by the extremely rapid compression of air in front of the meteoroid. It is primarily this ram pressure (rather than friction) which heats the air which in turn heats the meteoroid as it flows around it. [...]".

[guybrushthreepwood]

I saw at least five last year and three this year and I thought that was a lot.  But in five minutes outside I just saw twelve of them tonight!

How many have you seen recently?

Any knowledge as to why they appear and disappear out of nowhere?

They're usually meteors or space debris burning up in the atmosphere.

Were you stoned? I thought I saw one once, but I was high  .

[Ch1bi]

I saw at least five last year and three this year and I thought that was a lot.  But in five minutes outside I just saw twelve of them tonight!

How many have you seen recently?

Any knowledge as to why they appear and disappear out of nowhere?

Wow lucky you, I have seen none. Since I live in a big city full of lights it's a bit difficult to spot one 

[some1]

This is a good period to see meteors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminids

Also, a comet has been recently partialy destroyed by the sun... there are debris all around in space.

[Haidang1796]

i haven't seen any before. It only appear when I was asleep.

[ajax3592]

How many of you guys have seen a meteor shower? I saw them once, such a feast for the eyes 

[Haidang1796]

How many of you guys have seen a meteor shower? I saw them once, such a feast for the eyes 

It must be indeed 

[Kiki112]

How many of you guys have seen a meteor shower? I saw them once, such a feast for the eyes 

I  haven't seen any 

I guess you need to be organized and follow up with recent events to see one

[Silverwolf_Ru]

I think we're in for some dusting and I am sure http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors Here's a timetable of teh closest meteor showers. Plus we'll travel through ISON's path later and that might put on a firework show around Christmas.

A month, or two ago I saw around three or four meteors within five minutes coming roughly in from North East. Additional streaks have been captured on my camera when I did some night shoots. Other then that I usually don't pay attention to the sky.

[yntro]

How many of you guys have seen a meteor shower? I saw them once, such a feast for the eyes 

It must be indeed 

i always miss them... because its cloudy or smth like that...

[Ecurb123]

I think the reason why you might see a lot one night and none the next is because the earth is can be travelling through a section of it's orbit which happens to have a bunch of junk in it at that time, then at other times there could be nothing at all.

[Ruzka]

I saw a bunch of them earlier this year, it was actually really cool