When you wish upon a star...
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you've probably seen rainy weather, or balloons floating across the sky carrying presents, but there's something else you might want to watch the skies for: meteor showers! If you're lucky enough to wish upon a shooting star, your island will be blessed with star fragments, and we here at iMore have all the details!
What are shooting stars in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Much like in real life, shooting stars are meteors - pieces of asteroids or comets that have broken off and burn up as they enter the astmosphere. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, these meteor showers last for several hours, nine hours to be precise. From 7 PM until 4 AM, hundreds of shooting stars will cross the skies in your island, but only on especially clear nights. Fortunately, if you're talking with your villagers daily, they will let you know when a meteor shower is going to happen. Then just follow these easy steps:
- Pick a nice spot with a clear view of the horizon.
- Tilt the right joystick up to look up at the sky.
- Wait for a shooting star.
- Press A to make a wish.
- Repeat.
And just like that, you've lit up the stars shooting across the sky. You can keep doing this until 4 AM when the shower will end. Don't get discouraged if it seems like the shooting stars have stopped sooner than that. They tend to come in waves, with lulls in between.
Why should you watch for shooting stars?
Aside from being pretty, there's a really good reason to watch the meteor showers: star fragments. By wishing on a shooting star (or lots of them!) you can make sure those meteors land on your island. When you wake up the next day, you will find star fragments washed up on the shore, just like sea shells. Depending on how many shooting stars you wished upon, you can find a lot of these star fragments. They come in multiple different varieties and are a rare crafting material. Since this is the only way to get star fragments and meteor showers are relatively uncommon, you'll want to make the most of the nights when you have the chance. During any meteor shower, you can earn several normal star fragments and a couple large star fragments.
You can also earn a few Zodiac fragments based on the date of the shower itself:
- Aquarius Fragment: January 20 until February 18
- Pisces Fragment: Feb 19 until March 20
- Aries Fragment: March 21 until April 19
- Taurus Fragment: April 20 until May 20
- Gemini Fragment: May 21 until June 20
- Cancer Fragment: June 21 until July 22
- Leo Fragment: July 23 until August 22
- Virgo Fragment: August 23 until September 22
- Libra Fragment: September 23 until October 22
- Scorpio Fragment: October 23 until November 21
- Sagittarius Fragment: November 22 until December 21
- Capricornus Fragment: December 22 until January 19
Fortunately, you can get a lot of fragments from one meteor shower. For my first meteor shower, I earned 31 star fragments, seven Aries fragments, and two large star fragments.
Nook Miles too!
Wishing on shooting stars will also count towards the Nook Miles+ Program challenges. That translates into a bunch of Nook Miles and six title keywords. It takes 200 wishes to complete all three challenges, but you can easily do this in one meteor shower.
Can my friends come too?
Absolutely! Life is better with friends and Animal Crossing: New Horizons is no different. If you have friends who play Animal Crossing too, open up your island and invite them over for the meteor shower! Over the course of the evening, I was able to invite over five different friends to my first meteor shower and each of them found star fragments on their beaches the next day. Just keep in mind that you have to leave your island open the entire time your friends are visiting. Each friend coming and going will tie up your game for a little bit during which you could be missing out on shooting stars, so you might want to coordinate with your friends to arrive before the shower starts, to wait to leave until everyone is finished, and use DodoCodes so other friends aren't just randomly popping in and out.
For more, see our Animal Crossing: New Horizons Multiplayer Guide.
Celeste
Once you have all these star fragments, you might be wondering what to do with them. Well, unfortunately, you might be stuck waiting. Eventually, Blathers' little sister, Celeste, will come to visit your island. Some players have reported it taking nearly three weeks for her to show up, others met her much sooner, and some, like myself, have yet to meet her. When she does show up, however, this owl will give you new recipes to use your star fragments.
DIYs
There are a number of DIY Crafts to be made using star fragments, and most of them require fragments that can only be found during specific times of the year. While you can use time traveling to get fragments earlier, without time traveling, it will take practically an entire year to get all of the pieces you need.
- Magic Wand: The first DIY recipe you can get from Celeste is for a Magic Wand. The Magic Wand lets you change clothes between eight different outfits in the same way your Tool Ring lets you switch through preset tools. It costs three star fragments and one large star fragment.
- Aries Rocking Chair: A cute rocking "horse" is shaped like a ram. It costs three star fragments, two Aries fragments, one gold nugget, and five stones.
- Cancer Table: A golden crab holding up a table.
- Capricorn Ornament: A white statue with golden ornamentation featuring a sea-goat.
- Gemini Closet: A white cabinet with gold accents featuring twins on the doors.
- Leo Sculpture: A head sculpture of a lion with a golden mane.
- Libra Scale: The classic scales of Libra in gold.
- Pisces Lamp: A pair of white fish atop a golden lamppost.
- Saggitarius Arrow: The bow and arrow of Saggitarius in gold.
- Scorpio Lamp: A golden scorpion holding up a white lamp.
- Taurus Bathtub: A tub in the shape of a white bull with golden hooves and horns.
- Virgo Harp: A white harp in the shape of a young maiden with golden hair.
- Aquarius Urn: A white urn decorated with golden symbols of waves.
Questions?
Do you have any questions about meteor shows, wishing on shooting stars, or star fragments in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Want to show off your biggest haul? Drop us a comment below and be sure to check out our other Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides.
