November 1, 2009

Shooting Stars - Very Beautiful Or Just Plain Unfortunate?

The beauty of a shooting star crossing the night sky is undeniable, but while for some people

this is very romantic, for others it just suggests a bad omen. The understanding of the shooting star in

different parts of the world is both varied and suggestive. Thus, westerners commonly make a wish when they

see a falling star, while in other traditions, any shooting

star tells people that someone has passed away. Yet,

although we give all sorts of explanations to such sky events, they have a very reasonable and easy to

understand scientific background. Beautiful and great as a shooting star may be, it is just a

false star. Click through here for extra

info about aries compatibility.

A shooting star is a meteoroid, or some form of

debris that enters

Earth's atmosphere and gets on fire. The great friction of the air masses and the presence of the oxygen associated with the high

velocity of the meteoroid cause the star-like appearance. Thus, the shooting star often doesn't even get to touch the ground as it

burns completely in the atmosphere. Big-sized meteoroids may not burn completely and they fall on the ground causing

crater formations. Such falling stars are known as meteors.

Scientists can identify the chemical

structure of a shooting star by observing the light specter during the descent as well as the

trajectory through the atmosphere. Though noticeable with the naked eye

only at night, meteoroids and meteors also fall during

the day, but this time they are detected only by radio signals, with the sunlight making them very difficult to spot

otherwise. Thus, scientists have

determined that the weight and structure of a shooting star can vary

a lot from snowball lightness to metal heaviness. A special kind of shooting star here is

the one that passes through an atmosphere sector and gets out into space again to continue its speedy

course. You

can get more invaluable info about libra compatibility here.

A shooting star with a high burning intensity is called a

fireball and the measurements result from comparing the light intensity of

the meteor with that of a planet. As beautiful

as it may look, a shooting star has a huge

destructive potential if it is not totally combusted during the

flight through the atmosphere. Past collisions were

devastating for ecosystems, with great flora and fauna damage; should such a shooting star fall in a city,

the effect would be that of a bomb dropping, with

a higher or lower

destructive force depending on the size of the meteor. You can

acquire oodles of complementaryinvaluable info on horoscope love compatibility

here.

Filed under History of Astronomy by

Permalink Print Comment

Leave a Comment

Register Login