What are shooting stars? July 20, 2020January 24, 2012 by Pamela Landy Shooting stars are not stars but meteorites, particles from space entering and burning up in the earth’s atmosphere. Related Answers How much time passed between Amy Fisher’s shooting of Mary Jo Buttafuoco and the premiere of the TV-movies on the subject? How many stars are there in the universe? How many stars, arrows, olive leaves, and olives are there in the Great Seal of the United States? Where did the word crap come from and does it refer to shooting craps? In what daytime soap operas did the following movie stars once act: To what does the title of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars (1926) refer?