The term “shooting star” is actually a misnomer. They are not actually stars although they do give the effect of shooting across the dark sky. The luminous trace you see is in reality, are meteors. The average star would engulf our planet Earth yet our planet swallows up millions of these meteors. Where do these meteors come from?

Well, meteors have a connection to comets. Halley’s comet, probably trhe most famous example, swept by the earth in 1986 on its 76-year-long elliptical journey around the sun. Because comets apparently consist mostly of ice and dust, they are sometimes called dirty snowballs. When a comet approaches the sun, its surface heats up and it releases dust and gas. The radiation pressure of sunlight pushes the solid material back in a glowing tail of dust. The comet leaves in its wake a dusty trail of debris-particles that while still in space, are called meteoroids.Most of this is far too small to become visible though.

Simply put, the Earth passes through this trail of dust which will include some of the larger meteors. In August, the Perseids shower appears and at its peak, puts on a dazzling display where it is reckoned around 60 meteors fall every hour.

According to the science journal Astronomy, scientists estimate that Halley’s comet “can make 100,000 orbits before losing all of its material.” This means Halley’s comet will make regular visits during the next 7,600,000 years! And even after it is long gone, its trail of dust will continue to provide the earth’s inhabitants with “shooting stars” for ages. Many of the meteors we currently see apparently come from comets that have long died. Scientists figure that worldwide, there are some 200 million visible meteors in our atmosphere every day. So if you missed a shooting star recently, don’t worry. There are plenty more to come!