why do stars fall?(a.k.a falling stars)?

Question

this is my guess:
when stars get too close to the earth gravity pulls them down......
what do you think?

What's your guess?

Answer 1

"Falling stars" aren't really stars, they're meteors. Meteoroids are chunks of rock flying through space. If one of them happens to enter the earth's atmosphere, it heats up through friction and is visible as a bright light. It is then called a meteor. If it makes it to the ground intact, it is called a meteorite. Stars are a lot bigger then the earth and they are very far away, except for the Sun.

Answer 2

The expression "falling star" is an ancient one, that has become a literary or romantic idea in modern times.

It's true that meteorites fall because they are captured by the earth's gravitational field. A meteorite becomes incandescent (so hot it glows) because of the heat of friction from passing through the atmosphere, and produces a streak of light that appears--to those who do not possess the modern understanding of celestial objects--as though a star had come loose from the firmament and fallen to earth.

The old mnemonic device is the poetic answer a college student once wrote to an exam question about the difference between meteors and meteorites:

A meteor is the flash of light
Made by a passing meteorite
As it scores the sky of night.
I hope to hell this answer's right.

Answer 3

"Falling Stars/Shooting Stars" is the romantic term for meteors.
There was actually a meteor that entered the Earth's atmosphere around 9:20pm EST last night (2/5/07). It basically looks like a streak of light that turns into a fireball and then disappears.. Very cool though.
You can see lots of meteors during meteor showers that occur at all times of the year

Answer 4

To add another fact to the answers, meteor showers are caused when we move through dust that an old comet, like Halley's Comet, left behind. The dust is moving faster than the earth and burns up on entering the atmosphere. Really bright meteors are cause by larger rocks and are called bolides.

Answer 5

If the Earth is rapidly moved outside the universe then the stars would appear to fall from heaven and the heavens would appear to be rolled up like a scroll upon the Earth leaving the universe. Revelation 6:12-14 (NIV) 12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Answer 6

Ummm... stars don't really fall.

"Falling Star" is another name for a meteor. When a rock or piece of ice comes into our atmosphere, we see a streak across the sky as it heats up and melts.

A star is millions of times bigger than the Earth and if one really fell on us, we'd all be very, very dead.

Answer 7

A falling star is a meteor or asteroid or comet

Answer 8

Stars don't fall. What you see are probably meteors, and anytime one falls on us, it does have to be very huge, we are going to be gone.