How many shooting stars can I see in one night?
On an ordinary dark night you might see a handful each hour. During a big meteor shower, you could see dozens in an hour.
It depends on when and where you look.
On any clear, dark night of the year, a patient watcher can usually see about 5 to 10 shooting stars in an hour. These random meteors are called sporadic meteors. They come from bits of dust that are spread all around space.
A few times a year, Earth passes through a trail of dust left behind by a comet. Then many more meteors appear, all seeming to come from the same part of the sky. This is a meteor shower. During the best showers, such as the Perseids in August and the Geminids in December, you might see 50 or more meteors an hour from a dark place, and sometimes even more. Very rarely there is a meteor storm, with thousands an hour!
You will see more if you are far from street lights, if the Moon is not bright, and if you wait about 20 minutes for your eyes to get used to the dark. Shooting stars are often more common after midnight than in the evening. Bring a blanket, wrap up warm, go with a grown-up and keep count. It is a fun way to be a scientist, because your counts can be compared with other people's.