Meteors - or "shooting stars" - are short streaks of light that can be seen when a meteoroid enters the atmosphere

• Meteoroids are small dust particles (meteoroids generating meteors typically have a size of 1/100 mm to several cm) that fly through the solar system - larger than atoms or molecules, but smaller than asteroids
• We distinguish stream meteors and sporadic meteors:
• Stream meteors all come from the same direction and are related to comets or asteroids. Famous streams are the Leonids (coming from the direction of the constellation Leo), or the Perseids (coming from the direction of the constellation Perseus). The latter have their maximum in August, at which time up to 100 meteors can be seen per hour
• Sporadic meteors are the "random background", they may come from any direction. On a typical night, a naked-eye observer can see 5 to 10 sporadics per hour, depending on sky conditions
• Very bright meteors (brighter than the stars) are called fireballs
• Meteorites are meteoroids that reach the ground

 

 

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• For more info, see the web pages of  the International Meteor Organisation or the glossary maintained by the American Meteor Society (AMS).
• Click here for a picture of a meteor