You don't have to wait for a shooting star to make a wish because there's a way to create one. In two years, the first artificial meteor shower will happen in Japan.
World's First Artificial Meteor Shower
Space start-up ALE is working on the first artificial meteor shower that will light up the skies of the Land of the Rising Sun, Daily Mail reported.
The "SKY CANVAS" project will replicate a meteor shower by installing meteor-like particles in a satellite 250 miles (400 km) up and releasing them over a designated area. The particles are shaped in spheres with a diameter of 0.4 inches and weigh a few grams.
The pea-sized balls have a secret chemical formula causing them to light up when they re-enter the planet at fives miles (8 km) per second.
According to ALE, the particles will travel slower and light up to 10 seconds longer than the actual shooting stars.
The artificial meteor shower will be visible over 125 miles (200 km).
Each bright streak's color can be changed by adjusting the ingredients in the pellets, which opens the possibility of producing a flotilla of shooting stars in various colors.
Dr. Lena Okajima, the organization's founder, and CEO, said their goal is to bring space closer to all of us by extending the range of human activity beyond Earth to discover, gather, and use critical data from space.
She established ALE to produce the first artificial shooting star, arouse awe, and pique scientific curiosity.
The backpack-sized satellite will re-enter the atmosphere after about two years in orbit and completely disintegrate, preventing it from becoming space debris.
In addition to entertaining stargazers, the light show will aid in collecting information about the "mesosphere," the third layer of the Earth's atmosphere.
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It isn't easy to examine this area since neither weather balloons nor airplanes can fly high enough to reach it, nor can satellites see it from above. By observing the course and light emission of the manufactured meteors, scientists will be able to learn more about the wind's velocity and the atmosphere's makeup.
To aid with experiments, engineers at ALE can regulate the meteor particles' position, speed, and timing.
Increasing people's interest in space and science, in general, is another aim of the initiative, which was first announced in 2015.
What Are Shooting Stars?
According to Cool Cosmos, shootings stars appear like stars that quickly shoot across the sky. However, they are not stars.
A shooting star is a small piece of space rock or dust that hits Earth's atmosphere from space. Meteors heat up and glow due to their speed when they move through the atmosphere.
Meteors burn up in the atmosphere before they reach the ground. However, when a meteor is large enough, it can survive and reach the planet's surface, where it is called a "meteorite."
The researchers anticipate the data will improve our understanding of climate change by informing weather models.
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