My co-worker asked me this question today and left me thinking.
2006-12-13 05:56:53 · 13 answers · asked by Junior 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Shooting stars are meteors. When those chunks of ice and rock enter our atmosphere they burn up making them quite bright for a moment until there is nothing left (or they escape our atmosphere). When a meteor is large enough to hit the earth it still creates a flash but it is very bright. They are not actual stars like our sun. It is unlikely that we would collide with a star ever... if we fell in towards our sun we would be burnt up and eventually torn apart.
2006-12-13 06:02:24 · answer #1 · answered by iMi 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A shooting star is a name given to a small meteor or dust particle that has entered the Earth's atmosphere at high speed and burns up on the way down.
2006-12-13 14:16:19 · answer #2 · answered by Feckpot 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually a "shooting star" IS a meteor. A meteor which falls to earth is tachnically called a meteorite!
2006-12-13 14:12:34 · answer #3 · answered by John Galt 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your question really is about semantics.
A meteor is the trail of light left by a meteoroid, which is the particle or object busily being heated to incandescence in our atmosphere.
The term "shooting star" is synonymous with meteor (it's the visible light streak.)
When a meteoroid survives it's passage through the atmosphere and reaches Earth's surface, it is a meteorite.
So I guess you would say, "No". It can only be a shooting star before it reaches the Earth.
2006-12-13 17:24:50 · answer #4 · answered by JIMBO 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A "shooting star" IS a meteor. If it falls to earth it is called a meteorite.
2006-12-13 13:59:34 · answer #5 · answered by yupchagee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shooting stars are meteors
2006-12-13 14:02:35 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are the same thing. A shooting star is not really a star. It just shines like one as it burns up in the atmosphere.
Your co-worker is an idiot
2006-12-13 14:00:36 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Shooting stars ARE meteors.
2006-12-13 13:59:25 · answer #8 · answered by McB 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A "shooting star" is a lay term for "meteor".
2006-12-13 14:00:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shooting stars are meteors.
I think that you are talking about comets and not shooting stars.
If it's comet, then yes, it's possible.
The blast over Tunguska, Siberia at 1908 is suspected to be an exploding comet.
2006-12-13 14:10:05 · answer #10 · answered by E A C 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋