color of shooting stars

[jlc_5150]

I live in northern New Jersey and a few weeks ago saw a shooting star that was green. I've seen ones that were white, orange and red in color, but never green. What determines the color of a shooting star?

 

[vogon13]

Chemical composition. Get one of those decorative logs for your fireplace that are saturated with heavy metal laden industrial waste. They burn with all kinds of colors.<br /><br /><font color="red">P</font>font color=orange>Rfont color=yellow>Efont color=green>Tfont color=blue>Tfont color=purple>Y<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[thalion]

I've seen a few green ones myself. IIRC, the color is a result of both the atmospheric and the actual meteoroid's ionization.