When you wish upon a star … I\’ll make it a shooting star!

I saw one while riding yesterday morning. It had an orangish color, and lasted only about two seconds. In all these years of pre-dawn riding, it’s only the second or third time I’ve seen one; and shooting stars are usually so fleeting that I catch myself wondering whether I really saw them! 

I have to wonder how many meteors I might have missed, simply because I wasn’t looking in the right spot at the right moment. And I wonder why some of them look orange-y; and others white, or greenish-white. I suppose it has to do with the chemical composition of the meteor. After all, don’t they use different chemicals to make different colors of fireworks?

Or it might have to do with whatever happens to be in the atmosphere, much as things look different when viewed through different colors of lenses. I know this much; I can\’t watch for stars, whether shooting or not, while I\’m riding a bicycle. There\’s too much down here on the ground for me to watch out for. If I\’m going to wish upon a star, I think I\’l get off the bicycle first!