Shooting stars, falling stars, fireballs, asteroids, comets and Thunder Stones are also common names for the cosmic debris smashing into our planet constantly, making today
NATIONAL METEOR DAY!
What meteors are, technically, are meteorites, which are small asteroids, bodies of material ranging from the size of a grain of sand to incandescent stone arrows a meter or two wide, with flaming rainbow feathers trailing behind.
What we are seeing when one of them lights up the sky is the meteorite burning up from the heat of friction as it penetrates Earth’s thick atmosphere. Which doesn’t make it any less magical to behold, a silent light show piercing the sky, with Planet Earth as the final destination for a piece of the universe whose journey is measured in light years and parsecs.
They can come in showers or one at a time, pulled from their space journey by our gravity, circling lower and lower until they start their free fall and flameout for our entertainment. It’s a beautiful thing.
•Suggested Activities: Silence