Behind shooting stars are tiny space debris traveling at lightning speed.
While contemplating the night sky and its constellations, you have surely already noticed shooting stars suddenly streaking across the celestial vault. Sometimes considered as arrows shot by angels, sometimes interpreted as the tears of the gods or even as souls in transit to the afterlife, shooting stars are often perceived as a sign of luck which invites one to make a wish, but can also evoke darker omens… Beyond the myths and customs which surround this spectacle, discover the scientific phenomenon which hides behind these fascinating lights.
Despite their evocative name, shooting stars are extremely different from the stars that line the night sky. Their name comes solely from their appearance: that of a star which falls from the celestial vault and crosses the sky in a luminous and fleeting trajectory. They are actually tiny pieces of debris moving through space at the crazy speed of 160,000 kilometers per hour. This debris can have different natures since it can be fragments of asteroids or comets measuring at most the size of a grain of rice. But then how can these simple dusts cause such light trails in the night sky?
As long as this dust wanders in space, it goes unnoticed from Earth. But when one of these tiny pieces of debris encounters our planet, it enters at full speed into the Earth’s atmosphere, strongly heating the air around it. It is this phenomenon which results in a sudden and brief luminous streak that can be seen from the cow’s floor.
Depending on the time of year, showers of shooting stars occur when the Earth passes into the path of a comet. Our planet then encounters all the debris that the comet left behind, causing series of shooting stars that fascinate lovers of the starry sky. This phenomenon peaks during the Perseids during July and August, caused by comet Swift Tuttle. At this time, it is possible to admire several dozen shooting stars per hour. Outside of the summer season, you can contemplate other showers of shooting stars such as the Lyrids which offer a striking spectacle every year in April.
