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On any night, there are several small meteors which shoot across the sky. However, during a meteor shower, tens to hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. Many of these meteor showers can be predicted and occur at the same time each year.
Javascript must be enabled to use Cool Cosmos. Learn how. Some years are better than others for numbers of meteors per hour. Bring blankets, a sleeping bag, and a thermos of something warm to drink. Hot chocolate, perhaps? Lie down and get warm and cozy. Let your eyes relax and try not to look at any particular spot. This way, your eyes will be more likely to notice any movement and you will see more meteors this way. Most importantly, be patient! If you are lucky, you might see a meteor as often as every few minutes.
You may not see one that often. The quality of the "show" depends on the specific meteor shower, the time you are observing, the conditions of the sky, the phase of the moon, and other things. What Is a Meteor Shower? View our Privacy Policy. By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers.
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Dave's Universe Year of Pluto. Groups Why Join? Astronomy Day. The Complete Star Atlas. You can see a "shooting star" on any dark night — but some nights of the year are much better than others. By Francis Reddy. In this wide-angle view, Orion the Hunter top right hovers above Sirius bottom right , the brightest star in the sky. Those spending enough time under the night sky eventually will see a "shooting star," a streak of light that flashes across the sky in less than a second. This is a meteor, a glowing trail caused by the incineration of a piece of celestial debris entering our atmosphere.
Many meteors are quick flashes, but some last long enough for us to track their brief course across the sky. Now and then, a meteor truly will light up the night, blazing brighter than Venus — and although rarely, even brighter than the Moon — leaving in its wake a dimly glowing trail that may persist for minutes. Under a dark sky, any observer can expect to see between two and seven meteors each hour any night of the year.
These are sporadic meteors; their source bodies — meteoroids — are part of the dusty background of the inner solar system. Several times during the year, Earth encounters swarms of small particles that greatly enhance the number of meteors. The result is a meteor shower, during which observers may see dozens of meteors every hour. Concentrations of material within the swarms may produce better-than-average displays in some years, with rates of hundreds per hour.
And every now and then, we're treated to a truly spectacular display in which thousands of visible meteors can be seen for a brief period. These are referred to as meteor storms. The meteors that appear during a meteor shower seem to radiate from one point in the sky. This illusion is an effect of perspective, just as a roadway seems to converge in the distance.
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