How Often Animal Crossing Star Fragments Actually Appear
Star fragments in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the meteor showers they come from, appear a bit differently compared to past Animal Crossing games. In the original Animal Crossing, there was one meteor shower event throughout the year. Later games would make meteor showers a random occurrence that could happen multiple times throughout the year, and New Horizons introduced the star fragment crafting material that comes from making a wish during a meteor shower.
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, like in Wild World, City Folk, and New Leaf, meteor showers occur between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. During this time, shooting stars may sweep across the sky, and players can wish upon them by tilting the camera upwards and pressing A. Each wish a player makes becomes a star fragment, which are used in special star fragment DIY recipes in New Horizons. Star fragments come in small, large, or Zodiac constellation-based variations at random, and all of them are used in the DIY recipes Celeste can give to players.
Because star fragments only appear after a player wishes on shooting stars during a meteor shower, they appear as often or as infrequently as the player experiences meteor showers. Meteor showers happen randomly in ACNH, but only on nights when the sky is clear or at most partly cloudy. Sometimes there will only be a handful of shooting stars that appear each hour, while other nights may bring long-lasting showers with upwards of hundreds of stars per hour. If the latter is set to occur, then Animal Crossing’s very own Isabelle will announce it when the player enters the game. Although there are random elements involved, meteor showers aren’t incredibly rare, especially the lighter showers that don’t get their own announcements. Players can also visit another island and wish on the shooting stars there, which will turn into star fragments on their own island.
After wishing on shooting stars, star fragments will appear on the player’s island’s beaches the next morning. A “new day” in New Horizons starts at 5 a.m., so players can keep wishing on shooting stars past midnight. Each wish a player makes will turn into a star fragment, capping out at 20. New Horizons players who invite friends over during a meteor shower have a chance to earn even more star fragments, however, since every five wishes another player makes becomes one star fragment on the host's island.
Not all star fragments may appear on the island’s beaches at once. Players may need to pick up some fragments first, then enter and exit a building - or save and end the game session and return later - to refresh the items that have washed up along the shore. Because of this, players who make a large number of wishes together with a group of friends may find star fragments all throughout the day after an Animal Crossing: New Horizons meteor shower.