Do the Stars Really Shoot Down?
The answer is “No.” We have come to use the expression “shooting stars” commonly, but we should probably be more correct if we said “shooting rocks,” for the things we refer to commonly as “shooting stars” are more like rocks than anything else. If any of the real stars were to fall into the air surrounding the earth we should all be burned up by the great heat developed long before it actually hit the earth, which it would undoubtedly destroy.
The things that fall and leave a streak of light are really only pebbles, stones, rocks or pieces of iron and other substances that fall from some place into the earth’s air belt. When they strike the air at the speed at which they are falling the friction of the air makes a heat that causes them to become luminous, and by far the greater part of them is burned up before they get very near the earth. We call them meteorites. Sometimes, though rarely, one will manage to strike the earth, coming at such great speed and being so large that the air has not been able to burn it up completely, and it will strike the earth and sink deep down into the soil. In most museums can be seen such meteorites that have been dug up after striking the earth. These are constantly falling into the air surrounding the earth, but in the day-time their light is not strong enough to be seen while the sun is shining.