Shooting Stars..

When is it a good time to see shooting star? I've never actually seen one. .. thanks.

I don't really know actually. I've seen shooting stars occasionally, but the last time I've saw one was in 2005!

There is a really neat little short TV program on PBS called Star watcher, or something like that, he gives information about when many things are going to occur, like eclipses and comets passing, that sort of thing. He was recently taling about shooting stars. I believe PBS (Public television) has a web site, maybe you could find more info on his show there, it's pbs.org or something like that.

Well since these are a random thing, and depending on location you may never see one but of course there are some very famous meteor showers that almost everyone could see depending on the right settings

Quadrantids
Lyrids
Eta Aquarids
Perseids
Orionids
Leonids
Geminids

Usually you can do to any astronomy website and they will give you dates and best times to view them, such as these websites:

Website #1

Website #2

I had a somewhat pleasure of catching the meteor shower, and I believe it was the Perseids, but either way I only saw a couple and then the stupid clouds came in and ruin it for me . So like I said its all about timing, and location to watching these cosmic events.

I think I see one every 1-3 months, it really depends on how often I am outside at nights. I don't know if I am talking about the same thing as you, but it is like a glowing light crossing the sky really, really fast. Something I also see lots of, is "nordlys". Northernlight. It is really beautiful, and the cool thing is that it always looks different. It is much more of it at the northern parts of Noway, but I can see it here too. If you want to see what it looks like, just click on the links below.

Click here
You can click here
And if you really want too, click here

This post has been edited by Bluebear: Jan 11 2008, 04:02 PM

the best time to see shooting stars is late at night when the moon is NOT out. you should look very high, toward the zenith (almost 90 degrees straight up), this is where the atmosphere is thinnest from our point of view and where it is generally darkest because it is farthest from the surrounding light pollution. on any given night, depending on how dark it is, you stand a pretty good chance of seeing a shooting star.

If you want to greatly increase your chances of seeing one, you can visit astronomy websites like www.skyandtelescope.com, www.astronomy.com, or www.heavens-above.com; where you can find info on the approximate times of local metior showers (www.heavens-above.com is especially accurate, they even tell you exactly where to look).

these sites are very accurate at predicting meteror showers b/c they have all of the info on the comets that cause them. ( meteror showers are caused when the earth passes through the dust tail that comets leave behind as they zip through our orbital plane; the earth's atmosphere ionizes the dust which creates a bright "shooting star".... the bigger the comet, the bigger the trail, the bigger and longer lasting the meterors).

Well I heard that a shooting star passes the earth every 10 minutes and in fairness it's pretty easy to see them if you follow a few simple steps.

Step one: Find a hill, a big one preferrably, the higher up you are the less buildings there are protruding your view. Stars also tend to be much clearer up there. If your really into finding a shooting star then climb a mountain that's above the cloud line... this brings me to my next point.

Step two: Look on very cloudless nights. Clouds are fantastic at covering up stars and if there is a shooting star it'll be behind the one cloud in the sky. If you can try and get higher than the cloud but if you choose to do this BE PREPARED. If you are not an expert climber don't even attempt something like this. Just remember clouds are bad.

Step three: Take someone with you and lie on your backs so your facing opposite directions, four people are the best bet. One for every compass point. This is a pretty unimportant step really as if you look straight up you can see more or less everything. But company is always good anyway.

Step four: Be prepared to wait. It could be a long time so don't give up quickly! Especially if having cloudless skies is difficult for you. Make the most of them all.

i couldn't have said it any better, dagoth. i love the night. there is so much to see and hear at night when other people are too busy sleeping or winding down watching t.v.. i always liked to sit outside. living in a small town now and not a big city, the stars are much brighter without the reflection of the city lights. i can sit outside on any cloudless night away from any outside lights and see shooting stars on any given night. they prevail more at certain times of the year, but they will always exist and you can always see them if you are patient and keep your eye out