Seeing Stars.

I saw what I think was the biggest meteor I’ve ever seen tonight. It appeared roughly over the pub, and went pouf more or less over Miss Sarah’s house. Shooting stars used to fill me with foreboding when I was a kid, because somebody told me they were bad omens. I believed what people told me in those days…

What I want to know, though, is why the constellations appear slightly further across the sky at the same time on successive nights. I assume it must be because the angle of view changes as the earth follows its orbit around the sun. But you’d think that the diameter of the earth’s orbit would be quite small when compared with the distance from here to the constellations, wouldn’t you, and therefore wouldn’t make that much difference? Well, I would. So I want somebody to explain it to me. Please queue this side of the sign.