Meteors are in some way objects of the atmosphere – when a dust grain enters the Earth‘s atmosphere at high speed, it ionizes the surrounding air and makes it glow by fluorescence. When we see meteor or a “shooting star“, we do not observe the actual dust particles, but a several hundred yard (meter) wide channel of ionized air at around 62 miles (100 kilometers) altitude. Most meteors are less than an inch (up to 10 mm) size, while even larger meteors are known as fireballs and leave impressive streaks of light. Large meteors, which reach the Earth‘s surface without burning up completely, are referred to as meteorites.

The best chance to see shooting stars is during the maxima of meteor showers such as the Perseids (around the 12th of August) or the Leonids (around the 17th of November) and in the second half of the night. The light traces are very long and will not be limited to one area of the sky, so they can be best observed with the naked eye – make yourself comfortable in a lawn chair. However, there may occasionally be times when a meteor shoots right through your field of view when you‘re looking through your binoculars – but it is useless to wait for this to happen