• Question: Are there such things as shooting stars?

    Asked by sophieekettle to Joel, Kristian, Tim, Venus, Zachary on 20 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Tim Hollowood

      Tim Hollowood answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      …another question Sophie….yes indeed there are. These are nothing like other stars that are giant nuclear furnaces and very distance form earth (apart from our sun of course). A shooting star is just a small rock floating through space that happens to enter earth’s atmosphere. As it does so heat is generated by friction with the atmosphere and the rock burns up making a bright trail across the sky and that’s what we call a shooting star.

    • Photo: Kristian Harder

      Kristian Harder answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      Yes, Clint Eastwood is probably the most famous one. He was (or still is?) definitely a star, and he was shooting a lot.

      And as far as that other meaning of shooting star is concerned that you probably had in mind, yes, there is. If you have never seen one, you might have to consider spending more nights outside. That’s worth doing for many reasons anyway, such as seeing what else is happening in the universe these days, such as stars shining, galaxies rotating and satellites and space stations strolling past. 😉
      For those “shooting stars” the name is very inappropriate, though, because they really have nothing to do with real stars. It’s a bit like putting a match down after having lit a candle, and calling that a flying nuclear power plant. 🙂 Shooting “stars” are really just small rocks (for example small chunks kicked out of the asteroid belt) entering our atmosphere and burning up in the process due to the heat generated by friction.

    • Photo: Zachary Williamson

      Zachary Williamson answered on 21 Nov 2013:

      Hi Sophie. Shooting stars are meteors traveling through our planet’s atmosphere. As they burn up they turn into fireballs, which ancient civilizations thought were fast-traveling stars. The name ‘shooting star’ has stuck ever since.

Comments