Falling star. To make a wish or to read a prayer?

The starry sky is the subject of the sighing of lovers and the object of observation of scientists. The first admire the mysterious dusk, permeated with beads of luminous bodies, the second are immersed in complex calculations, which are stored later in the box of scientific knowledge. The falling star causes even greater delight and promises the fulfillment of cherished desires. However, it is necessary to understand the terminology, so as not to be regarded as a romantic ignoramus.

In fact, the shooting star is not a star at all. Just imagine what could have happened to our planet if the Sun had fallen upon it! A star is a cluster of hot gas, the dimensions of which are enormous. It seems small only at the expense of a great distance from the Earth. Even the Sun is a medium-sized star, but it also outnumbered our planet millions of times. The bright flashes that occur when a celestial body hits our atmosphere have a different nature.

In space there is a huge number of various bodies: from dust to stars. The splintered pieces of comets or asteroids, the dimensions of which often do not exceed a small pebble, are meteoric bodies. They move in space unimpeded due to the lack of frictional force until they collide with a particular object. In this case - with the planet Earth. And only then they begin to be called "meteors" and "meteorites." These two concepts should be distinguished. A meteor is a light phenomenon that occurs as a result of the friction of a meteoric body about the atmosphere. Thus, the falling star, which we determine by the bright luminous tail, is a meteor. Its size can reach the size of a decent boulder and even more. However, in most cases, the meteor is not larger than a grain of sand or a pebble.

During the day thousands of meteors invade the Earth's atmosphere . Their average speed varies between 35-70 km per second. At such a huge speed, a meteor collides with air resistance, its temperature skyrocketing. The body literally boils, turning into a red-hot gas that dissipates in the air. And the earthlings at this time happily smile and hurry to make a wish. Well, if the shooting star, that is, the meteor, is small in size and completely burnt in the atmosphere. Heavenly stones are very large and reach the surface of the Earth. Such a body is already called a meteorite.

Of the last significant falls, we can recall the event that occurred in 1920 in Africa. Then the meteorite Goba landed on the territory of the mainland , the weight of which was about 60 tons. Large space envoys visited us later. Suffice it to recall the incident in Chelyabinsk. The meteorite in the USA, which fell in Arizona more than 50 thousand years ago, left behind a huge crater, whose diameter exceeds 1200 meters. It is assumed that the weight of the cosmic body was 300 thousand tons, and the explosion from its fall was similar to the explosion of 8 thousand bombs, similar to those that were dropped on Hiroshima.

Of course, the shooting star is beautiful. However, in this case, beauty can be really a terrible and destructive force.