Wishing on a shooting star
Why do so many people make a wish when a meteor flashes across the sky?
Key facts
- People and tradition
- Widespread, especially in Europe and the Americas
- Region
- Worldwide
- When
- Recorded for centuries; still alive today
The story
Few customs about the sky are as widespread as making a wish on a shooting star. In many versions you must make the wish before the light fades, or keep it secret, or say it three times. Some say the wish will come true within the year.
Nobody knows for certain where the custom began. One popular explanation is that a falling star was a sign that the heavens had opened for a moment, so a wish could slip through to whoever was listening. Others link it to the old idea that stars belonged to people, and that a moving star was a soul passing by. The custom has travelled with migration and storytelling, so today it is found from Britain to Brazil.
What science says
A shooting star is a meteor: the glow made when a speck of dust or rock, usually smaller than a grain of sand, hits the atmosphere at tens of kilometres per second and burns up 80 to 120 km above the ground. On a dark night away from towns you can see a few every hour at random, and many more during a meteor shower. So if you are hoping to make a wish, the best nights are those of the big showers, such as the Perseids in August and the Geminids in December.
Did you know?
Almost none of the meteors we see could ever land as meteorites: they are tiny grains that vaporise completely.
The light of a typical meteor lasts less than a second, which is why the wish has to be quick.