What is a shooting star - Discover the answer here!

We see them in heaven. Possibly we ask for a wish when we get to see one of them. But do you know what the shooting stars really are? They are very associated with our more mystical culture because, from always, "magical" and "divine" properties have been attributed to it, but reality is very different. In this article we are going to unravel the universe and, for that, we are going to explain what a shooting star is so that you know what you are seeing when you look up at the sky and find yourself with such a spectacle. !

What are shooting stars?

To know what the shooting stars are we must understand, first, that what we call "stars", in reality, are meteors . That is, they are small cosmic particles (between 1 millimeter to a few centimeters, never too many) that enter our atmosphere at a very high speed and, because of the contrast, the air around these particles ionize and, therefore, we can see that luminous tail so characteristic of shooting stars.

Depending on their size, each shooting star can be very different from the other and release more or less light, go faster or slower, and so on. Although, as a rule, tend to be particles that travel very fast and, therefore, for us it gives us the feeling that it is "fleeting" but does not mean that, because we do not see it, it no longer exists: on the contrary. It travels so fast that it does not allow us to capture its route and, for that reason, for us it is as if it had disappeared.

And if you have ever thought that the star had a different hue, for example, reddish, bluish or even greenish is because the composition of this meteor has elements that can alter its natural color.

Where the shooting stars come from

To find the origin of these particles we have to refer to comets because these formations that we find in the universe tend to lose material throughout their life and, from these detachments, is where the shooting stars come from. So, depending on the quality of each comet and its mass, it may be stripped of more or less large pieces and, then, when we talk about shooting stars or bolide.

A fireball is a meteor much brighter than that of the common shooting star and leave a wake in our sky for much longer. Such is its brightness that, even with the sky covered with clouds, they can be seen; They are also usually visible when it is daytime.

When the particle lost by the comet is very large, it is when we talk about meteorites . Normally, these usually burn when they come into contact with the Earth's atmosphere and lose their mass. Our planet is constantly receiving meteorites that are microscopic in size but also larger ones.

The shooting stars in our culture

Now that we know what a shooting star is, we are going to relate it to our culture because, since ancient times, we have investigated the spatial elements and their relationship with humanity. The Babylonians were the first to observe the meteor showers, something we know from the tablets with annotations dating from 747 BC.

The Chinese culture of 687, during the Chou dynasty, also insisted on observing the behavior of the stars and gave testimony of the special event of the "rains of stars".

Until the end of the twentieth century astronomers did not have the necessary material to predict when this phenomenon of space would take place. The model that was tested in the Leonids in 1999 managed to hit with an accuracy unparalleled the exact time at which this phenomenon would take place in our atmosphere.