What Do We Know About The Falling Stars?
The ‘falling stars’ are not new to us. For thousands of years even have looked up at them. They have always wondered, as to what they were and where they come from. At one stage, it was believed that they came from. At one stage, it was believed that they came from other worlds. With the advancement, we have come to know that they are not stars at all. We call them meteors. They are solid bodies, small in size, which travel in space, and may even pass through the atmosphere of the earth.
We see the meteors when they come within our atmosphere because of the fiery train of light, they leave. This light is caused by the heat, made by the friction of air upon their surfaces. Most individual meteor particles are very small in size like a pin-head. Occasional meteors weigh in tonnes. Most of them are destroyed by the heat. as they pass through the earth’s atmosphere. Only the fragments of large meteors ever reach the earth. Scientists believe that thousands of meteors fall to earth every day and night. Two-third of the earth’s surface is covered by water. They usually fall into lakes and oceans.
Meteors may even singly appear in the sky and travel in any direction. But these usually occur in thousands, like a swarm. Since earth travels in its orbit around the sun, it may come close to such storms of meteors. On contact with the upper layers of the atmosphere, they may become fiery hot, resulting in the ‘meteoric shower’ that we see. Astronomers have traced their origin. According to them, the swarms of meteors are the fragments of comets. The breakup of comets yields fragments in millions. They continue to move through space, in a stream meteor swarm. These swarms move in a regular path through space. Every thirty-three years one such swarm crosses the earth’s orbit. On reaching the earth, a piece of meteor is called a meteorite. It reaches earth after falling under gravity. In 467 B.C., back in Roman times, a meteorite fell to the earth. Its fall was considered an event important enough and was recorded by Roman historians.
