Why do shooting stars leave trails?
As the space dust burns, it leaves a line of glowing hot air behind it. Bright meteors can leave a glowing trail that stays for seconds or even minutes.
When you see a shooting star, it looks like a streak of light rather than a dot. That is because it moves so fast.
A meteor is a tiny speck of space dust rushing through the air at tens of kilometres per second. As it goes, it heats the air around it until the air glows. Your eyes see the glowing path as a line, a bit like the trail of light you see when someone waves a sparkler in the dark.
Some bright meteors leave something extra: a glowing trail that stays in the sky after the meteor itself has gone. This is called a train. Most trains last less than a second, but some, from very bright and fast meteors, glow for several seconds. A few rare ones, called persistent trains, stay visible for minutes, slowly twisting into curly shapes as winds high in the atmosphere push them around.
The glow in a train comes from atoms in the air and from the meteor, especially oxygen and sodium, giving off light as they cool down. Some trains look green, others orange or yellow.
If you see a long-lasting train, keep looking at it, perhaps with binoculars, and notice how it changes shape. It is a rare and beautiful sight.