Whats the difference between Shooting Stars and Meteors

[ChrisG3484]

Hi everyone,

What is the difference between a Meteor and a shooting star ?

[Bizibilder]

They are two names for the same thing!

However Meteor and meteorite are not the same - a meteorite is a piece of space rock that has landed on the surface of the Earth, without completely burning up, after passing through the atmosphere as a meteor - or shooting star.

[sologuitarist61]

Nothing as far as I can see, they are basically two names for the same thing: piece of rock burning up in the atmosphere.

[Connect2space]

They are the same thing, shooting star is used more commonly by romantic disney lovers

[ChrisG3484]

In that case I saw 2 meteors tonight.

[Photosbykev]

A meteor is the light trail effect caused by a meteorite heating the air in front of it because of the ram pressure effect i.e. very high velocity particles compressing and heating the air in front of it

[Connect2space]

In that case I saw 2 meteors tonight.

Reminds me of a story, Once during some meteor shower me and my family drove up a really big mountain (in Scotland if you are wondering) we got there and saw maybe one or two meteors because it was so cloudy, when we returned to my Aunts house the clouds has disappeared and we could see trillions of stars and at least 12 meteors... Oh the irony!!

[Photosbykev]

In that case I saw 2 meteors tonight.

I saw a fast mover at 20:10 going east to west in the SSE. It was above the clouds but the trail was still visible

[ChrisG3484]

The two we saw were pretty much one after the other. They came from a North West area, they came across the garden, just below Aquila. I doubt that is any help.

[ChrisG3484]

Bit of a random one, what is the advantages of buying stellarium for my phone over the free google sky ?

[Connect2space]

Bit of a random one, what is the advantages of buying stellarium for my phone over the free google sky ?

Well I have used google sky, maybe its just me but even when I hold it still it moves around a lot which was off putting, I don't know about stellarium but maybe it has more objects and is more stable.

[Bizibilder]

Stellarium is freeware!

[ChrisG3484]

Unless it's for your mobile phone.

[Spec-Chum]

Bit of a random one, what is the advantages of buying stellarium for my phone over the free google sky ?

Try SkEye if you haven't already