Hi there. I’m not sure what you mean by squirrely? If you mean the path of a shooting star (meteor) as it travels across the sky, then normally it basically follows a straight line. Different shooting stars may appear in different sections of the sky, but usually you can trace the line of their path back to the same apparent point (due to perspective), called a radiant. Sort of like fireworks, in that every stream of light expands from a single point, although the actual path nearest that point may not be lit.
There are also sporadic meteors that are not associated with the major and minor meteor showers. More of these are seen toward dawn than in the evening.
If, however, you are referring to the fixed stars shimmering or twinkling slightly, then that is likely due to atmospheric distortion, in which the incoming light is bent (refracted). On some evenings, this is more noticeable than others, and will depend in part on the temperature and density of the atmospheric layers the light from the star travels through to reach our eyes.
Hi there. I’m not sure what you mean by squirrely? If you mean the path of a shooting star (meteor) as it travels across the sky, then normally it basically follows a straight line. Different shooting stars may appear in different sections of the sky, but usually you can trace the line of their path back to the same apparent point (due to perspective), called a radiant. Sort of like fireworks, in that every stream of light expands from a single point, although the actual path nearest that point may not be lit.
There are also sporadic meteors that are not associated with the major and minor meteor showers. More of these are seen toward dawn than in the evening.
If, however, you are referring to the fixed stars shimmering or twinkling slightly, then that is likely due to atmospheric distortion, in which the incoming light is bent (refracted). On some evenings, this is more noticeable than others, and will depend in part on the temperature and density of the atmospheric layers the light from the star travels through to reach our eyes.
Hope this helps!