What is popularly known as a “shooting star” is more correctly called a meteor. It is the luminous phenomenon caused when a small particle (a meteoroid) enters the earth’s atmosphere and vaporizes. A typical meteoroid is smaller than a grain of rice, is moving at 12km/s to 72km/s (25,000 to 160,000 mph), and is completely vaporized by the time it reaches an altitude of 80km (50 miles). On any dark moonless night you can see a few meteors each hour, however during some meteor showers hundreds to thousands per hour are seen. In this photograph the meteor is moving from left to right. Notice that the brightness of the meteor varies along its path.
Meteor through Cassiopeia
Taken August 23, 2001, at Moose Pond, Denmark, Maine
Nikon F3, 50mm, f/1.8, 15 sec on Fujicolor Press 800, unguided