What are shooting stars?

Meteors

Shooting stars, or meteors, are caused by tiny specks of dust from space. These particles burn up 65 to 135 km above Earth's surface as they plunge at terrific speeds into the upper atmosphere, making the air glow as they pass. If Earth moves at 29 km/s around the Sun, these bits of dust are travelling at about 40 km/s. When they enter our atmosphere they have a combined speed of 30 to 70 km/s (100,000 to 250,000 km/h), depending on whether or not they meet it head on! The meteors we know as the Perseids enter the Earth’s atmosphere at 60 km/s. By comparison, the International Space Station moves at "only" 8 km/s in its orbit; capsules returning to Earth with astronauts on board enter the atmosphere at a similar speed.