14 of the Brightest Shooting Stars Ever Photographed

Special Report

Published: March 12, 2020 8:00 pm

Thousands of meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere every day and burn up in spectacular fireballs. The vast majority of these objects, however, are either too small to be visible, or they fall over oceans or uninhabited areas, or they fall invisibly in the sunlight during the day. Even at night, when shooting stars are most likely to be seen, most people are indoors or asleep.

Witnessing one of these memorable meteorological events is for most people quite rare. The American Meteor Society (AMS), which collects fireball reports from around the world, estimates that even experienced observers might see one high-magnitude meteor every 200 hours of meteor observing.

Because these phenomena are often visible for less than a second, photographs of them are extremely rare. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed hundreds of photographs submitted by meteor enthusiasts to the AMS and selected the brightest, most beautiful examples of recently-observed shooting stars available for use. The location and time of each sighting were also obtained from the AMS.

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Click here to see 14 of the brightest shooting stars ever photographed