Posts Tagged “shooting star”

A shooting star is not a star at all.  It is the visible trail of a meteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed.  Friction with the atmosphere causes such intense heat that a visible trail appears.

In most cases, the meteroid is small and it burns up completely before reaching the ground.  If it does happen to reach the ground, it is called a meteorite instead.

In any case, it is not a star.

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