Question

What is the scientific name for a shooting star?

Answer 1

Shooting stars are also known as falling stars but they are not related to stars. A shooting star is a small piece of rock or dust that travels through the earth’s atmosphere. These are known as meteoroids.

The reason why they glow is because of the speed at which they move through the atmosphere. Meteor is the trail of light which is produced during the burning.

There are millions of such particles that cross over the earth’s atmosphere, but only a few collide with the earth’s atmosphere making them glow and burn down. These shooting stars can be seen at every 10-15 minutes.