
Copernical Team
NASA Selects Intuitive Machines Team to Develop Survive the Lunar Night Technology

Deep Impact: Sol 3899

Making the Most of Limited Power: Sols 3900-3901

NASA Launches Beta Site; On-Demand Streaming, App Update Coming Soon

NASA Named One of America's Top Employers for Women

Marotta Controls Delivers 30,000th CoRe Valve to SpaceX

Long March carrier rocket conducts 150th consecutive successful launch

SpaceX successfully launches 22 Starlink satellites

SpaceX misses attempt for record-breaking 'double-launch' attempt

Meteor showers—it's worth looking out for 'shooting stars' all year round

If you have ever seen a shooting star on a clear night, surely someone has invited you to make a wish. Nevertheless, this is a natural phenomenon without any magical connotation—beyond its great beauty, of course.
What is a shooting star, really? Where do these glowing, moving bodies come from? How and when can we observe this astronomical phenomenon?
Meteor shower or shooting stars?
Although we popularly call them shooting stars, they are not really stars but glowing dust particles. To understand why, it is a good idea to first distinguish between a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite.
The word "meteor" refers to the astronomical phenomenon that occurs when one or more particles of matter (meteoroids) enter the atmosphere at high speed. These meteoroids, which are usually very small (between a tenth of a millimeter and a few centimeters in size), are fragments of dust, ice, or rock that wander through space.