~astro-craze~

If you have ever seen a "falling star", you were actually seeing a meteor. Most of the original object burns up before it strikes the surface of the Earth. Any leftover part that does strike the Earth is called a meteorite. A meteorite can make a hole, or crater, in the ground when it hits it. The larger the meteorite, the bigger the hole.

Most meteoroids are no bigger than a pebble. Large meteoroids are believed to come from the asteroid belt. Some of the smaller meteoroids may have come from the Moon or Mars. If a meteoroid falls into the Earth's atmosphere, it will begin to heat up and start to glow. This is called a meteor.

Meteors mostly occur at mesosphere. Millions of them appear in atmosphere everyday! They become visible at the range of 60-120km.

Meteors may occur in showers, which arise when the Earth passes through a trail of debris left by a comet, or as random meteors, not associated with a specific single cause. A number of specific meteors have been observed, largely by members of the public and largely by accident, but with enough detail that orbits of the incoming meteors or meteorites have been calculated. All of them came from orbits from the vicinity of the asteroid belt.

It is said that our ancestors once used meteor to make tools to help them in daily life. The next time u see a meteor, close your eyes a make wish, in God's will, whatever you wished, will come true..

=-P

more infor, log on to

-channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked.../Overview

-www.solarviews.com/eng/meteor.htm