Why do stars only fall down. The child’s question: “Why do the stars fall and where do they land?” Meteor shower list

As soon as we see a shooting star, we immediately make a wish. But are stars really falling? And what would happen if this happened? Is such a phenomenon possible under zero gravity?

In fact, this is just a beautiful expression, completely not reflecting reality. In such cases, we see which is caused by the fact that meteor showers enter the atmosphere. Most often, the phenomenon can be observed in the period from August 12 to 14 annually in the northern latitudes of our country. The meteor shower is called Perseid.

Why is this happening?

Do stars really fall? No, what we see in the sky is just meteoroids, asteroids and other meteoroids that burn in the atmosphere, which did not collapse when they entered the Earth’s atmosphere and reached the surface, they are already called meteorites. Traces of flying in the sky can be observed for several seconds or minutes.

Comets, on the other hand, circle around the Sun, leaving behind a train of fragments, which eventually group and transform into meteor showers. When the Earth intersects with such streams, then a "starfall" appears.

What are stars?

Stars are luminous and gas balls. The closest star to the Earth is the Sun. Other space objects are far enough away, therefore, looking at the sky, we see small luminous points. If we compare the sizes of the Earth and the Sun, then our planet is more like a speck of dust in relation to the Sun, which in diameter is 696.342 thousand kilometers (the error is 65 kilometers). And the Earth in diameter is only 12 742 kilometers. Do stars really fall? It’s hard to imagine what would happen if the Sun fell on the Earth — it would simply burn out in a matter of seconds.

Difference between cosmic bodies

Meteorites are solid bodies, it can be stone or ice, metal. As a rule, having reached the ground, these space objects are more like peas, but there are also quite large ones. Usually in the sky from the Earth they are visible.

Objects that are called asteroids, as a rule, are huge and are stones and fly to the orbit of the Earth and the Sun from the orbits of Jupiter or Mars.

Comets are blocks of ice that may contain ammonia, methane and other chemical compounds. Typically, such objects are surrounded by a "coma", that is, a cloud-like shell. When a comet approaches the orbit of the Sun, then a “tail” appears in it.

Why does the trace remain

Do stars fall to earth? As already clear - no. But why do cosmic objects glow brightly when falling? Everything is very simple: a space object is a meteorite, it doesn’t matter - metal or stone, and when flying through the atmosphere, it heats up to high temperature. And this is due to friction. By the way, for this reason, spaceships have a special casing so that the rocket itself and the people in it do not burn out. Those comets that are large enough may not completely burn out in the atmosphere and fly to the surface of the Earth.

The most famous cases of meteorites falling

Do stars fall from the sky? Not. But meteorites are falling. The most interesting cases of the fall of space objects:

• In 1908, a meteorite fell near the Podkamennaya River, which was later called the Tunguska. However, numerous expeditions failed to detect a meteorite, only magnetite and silicate balls of microscopic sizes. Although the force of the explosion was more than 50 megatons. In an area of \u200b\u200babout 2 thousand square kilometers, huge trees were uprooted.

• In 1922, a huge stone fell into the locals, after which a meteor shower began. The remnants of space objects were found only after 50 years, 25 kilometers in diameter from the supposed meteorite impact site, it was 82 chondritic objects. The largest weighed 284 kilograms, and the smallest - 50 grams.
• In Namibia, you can see the largest space object on Earth - the Goba meteorite. This is actually a block weighing 60 tons, consisting of nickel and iron with a low content of cobalt. But only dinosaurs could see such a unique phenomenon, who probably did not think about the question of whether the stars were falling.
• In 1947, a meteor shower rained in the Primorsky Territory of the Russian Federation (in the village of Beitsuha), creating several craters on an area of \u200b\u200babout 35 square kilometers. The largest chip weighs 23 tons.
• In 1696, a meteorite weighing 5 tons fell in Mexico (Chihuahua). Today it is the most studied space object on the entire planet. By the way, it includes a mineral that is not on the planet, and they called it pangit.

And on the moon, even from Earth, you can see traces of meteorites falling - these are famous craters. On our planet, such funnels also exist, but they are covered with ocean waters or volcanic ash, or have weathered over millions of years.

When can I observe the fall of stars

It doesn’t matter if the stars fall to the Earth or not, but sometimes you really want to make a wish. If we talk about single space objects, then it is impossible to predict their fall. And large flows can be predicted, especially since it has already been clearly established that such phenomena occur regularly.

The most regular annual flow of cosmic bodies is Perseid. The phenomenon falls on August-month, from about 12 to 14 days. It is connected with the approach of the comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the celestial body approaches our planet only once every 135 years. However, a plume of dust from a comet is visible on Earth annually. Some particles enter the atmosphere.

Forecast for 2018

• In July, from 28 to 30, you can see a whole stream of Aquarids, which can be observed near the constellation Aquarius.
• Arietid's starfall is one of the longest: from May 20 to July 2. However, peak activity occurs on June 7 and 8. If the question of whether the stars are tormented, you will have to get up with the rising of the Sun and observe the phenomenon for 30 minutes.
• From October 8 to 10, residents of the Northern Hemisphere will be lucky - they will be able to watch the "star rain" called the Draconids. The phenomenon can be seen at night, about 15 stars fall at an o'clock.
• One of the most beautiful phenomena is predicted for the period from October 2 to November 7. The peak falls on October 20-21. Enough large falling space objects with noticeable traces behind will be visible.

However, do not forget to fully enjoy the amazing phenomenon of the fall of space objects, it is better to go outside the city, where high-rise buildings will not interfere, and the sky will be completely open to the eye.

How wonderful are the warm nights at the end of summer. In the air you can hear the smells of herbs and the earth, crumbled from the sun. Bright tails of stars falling from the sky continually flash outlines ink space.

From time to time, nature arranges this “star show” especially for romantics who believe that the most cherished desires are fulfilled when stars fall on the earth.

Do stars really fall?

Fortunately, in fact, stars do not fall during a starfall. More precisely, they, in principle, may fall, but it will look very different. In any case, what we periodically observe in the sky in the summer has nothing to do with these astronomical objects.

A star is a giant clot of hot gas. Its dimensions are very large. The closest star to us - the Sun, refers to celestial bodies of medium size. However, it can accommodate several volumes of planet Earth. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if objects of this size fell from time to time onto our planet.

Scientists explain that a star, in principle, can “fall”, for example, into a black hole and even onto a planet. Only here the spectacle, which we used to call stargazing, has a completely different astronomical nature. And this phenomenon is wrong to call a "shooting star." It’s just that name has been formed since ancient times when people knew very little about space.

What astronomical phenomenon do we take for a shooting star?

Something constantly changes in space, stars are born and go out, planets appear and disappear, comets move and collapse. And all the "building material" remaining from this rushes through the Universe with great speed, periodically "settling" on the surface of celestial bodies.

This accumulation of “garbage” consists of both very inconspicuous particles - cosmic dust, and of rather large objects - meteoroids. Once in the layers of the earth’s atmosphere, they are heated by friction to such an extent that they begin to glow. Therefore, we see a bright flash in the sky, which we take for the tail of the "shooting" star.

What is star rain?

During the decay of large comets, a large accumulation of different-sized particles is often formed, which is called a swarm of meteor bodies. Due to the force of gravity, they continue to "rush" behind their former "house" throughout the cosmos in the form of a kind of "plume".

If our planet in the process of its movement intersects with the trajectory of one of these "loops", then we can observe a meteor shower, starfall, or, as it is also called, star rain.

What is the difference between meteors and meteorites?

Meteoroids, as a rule, are fragments of asteroids and other large celestial bodies. Most often, when they enter the earth's atmosphere, they burn out. This astronomical phenomenon is called "meteors." The same meteoroids that did not burn out in the atmosphere and still flew to the surface of the Earth are called "meteorites."

Meteorites can be different in size. The weight of the largest that scientists were able to detect is about 60 tons. The first mention of a meteorite falling from the sky dates back to the times of ancient Rome, in 467 BC. It was recorded by ancient Roman historians.

What time of the year is it best to admire the starfall?

Earth intersects with meteor swarms with a certain frequency. Each of them is called in accordance with the constellation, in which there is a "point of departure" of these particles (it is called a radiant). From the Earth it seems that they are sent from a single point, but this is just an optical illusion. In fact, particles fly in parallel. The illusion is due to the huge distance.

There are meteor showers Aquarium, Leonid, Perseid and others. One of the most powerful and spectacular is the Perseid stream, which can be observed annually in the summer in the northern latitudes of the Eurasian continent. Earth passes through it for a month, during this period tens of thousands of meteors fly by per hour. But the peak falls on the period from August 12 to 14.

Perseids belong to the Comet Swift - Tuttle. It itself approaches the Earth no more than once every one and a half centuries, but our planet meets with its trail of dust particles every year.

In addition to the Perseids, there are several more meteor showers recurring annually. They occur at different times of the year, but not all of them end in star rain. The most spectacular of them are Taurids and Orionids, which can be enjoyed in October-first half of November, as well as Leonids and Geminids, which fall in November and December, respectively.

Young men in love can be advised to carefully study the schedule of starfalls and the forecast of their intensity. This new knowledge can be successfully used to organize the most impressive date. What could be more romantic than showing a shooting star to a girl and giving her the opportunity to make a wish?

Video: why do stars fall and how does this happen?

Meteorite

Maybe you had to see a shooting star trace a fiery trail in the night sky? The impression is as if one of the stars fell from the sky and fell to the Earth. In fact, this is not a star, but a meteorite. From a distance, indeed, you can confuse a star with a meteorite, but in reality these are completely different things.

The difference between stars, meteorites and asteroids

Stars arehuge luminous globular clusters of hot gas that look small only because they are very far from us. Our Sun is a medium-sized star, but a million such planets as the Earth can fit in it.

Meteorites   those that burn so brightly in heaven are solids. Usually these are pieces of stone, metal or ice, broken off from comets or asteroids. Often in size, these fragments do not exceed a pea. Like pieces of clay scattered around a finished sculpture.

Asteroids arelarge stone fragments formed during the formation of planets from a gas-dust cloud. A large cluster of asteroids revolves around the Sun in the space between Mars and Jupiter.

How are meteorites made?

When asteroids collide, and they occur billions of years, their fragments scatter in different directions. These fragments, called meteorites, travel very long distances, because there is no friction force in the void of interplanetary space that could slow their flight. The sizes of meteorites range from a grain of sand to a boulder and more. Dark and invisible, they rush in the eternal cold and darkness of space. When meteorites fly near the Earth, the force of gravity begins to act on them. This is how some meteorites enter the Earth’s atmosphere, flying into it at a speed of 30 to 200 thousand kilometers per hour.

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Why do stars twinkle?

A bright trail when falling to Earth

Typically, stone and metal meteorites are captured by gravity and fall to the Earth through the atmosphere. In this case, stone and metal fragments are heated to a very high temperature. The reason for this warming up is friction. Try to rub your hand on the carpet, you will feel the heat - this is also the result of friction. On spaceships, a special skin layer protects the crew and the ship from the thermal effects of friction.

Meteorites have no such casing and there is no one to protect them. Therefore, small meteorites simply burn in the atmosphere from high temperature. They flare up in the sky and burn out like candles, leaving behind only ash. Large meteorites can survive a journey through the atmosphere, and then a stone collapses on the Earth

If sometimes you are baffled, and Google gives complex scientific articles to your question, do not rush to translate the topic of the conversation. Better check out our rubric "Question of the child"where we will publish real questions for real children (and our simple explanations).

Yes, we answer the question in such a way that even a child will understand.

The child asks: "Why do the stars fall and where do they land?"

We answer!

The same question was asked by people many hundreds of years ago, when they knew little about the structure of our Universe. They also believed that they were seeing shooting stars. So various myths, legends and fairy tales were born.

But now this phenomenon has a completely scientific explanation. People have learned that it is not stars that fall at all, but meteors. Do you know what it is? These are different small fragments from meteoritic bodies (a piece of a comet or an asteroid). Sometimes these solids get into the atmosphere of our planet - the Earth.

And so, when a meteor flies through our atmosphere, we notice a bright trail - as if a star were falling. Physicists explain this phenomenon by the friction of a meteor against the air, as a result of which heat is released.

By the way, you will be surprised, but most meteors are very tiny - like small pebbles. Although there are large, large, weighing several tons (like several buses).

  Small meteors do not even reach the Earth and burn out in the atmosphere, while large ones fall on our planet.

Why do not we meet them at every step? The fact is that our planet is covered with a large amount of water - these are rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. It is mainly where pieces of comets and asteroids land.

A meteor that fell to Earth is called a "meteorite." And meteorites are landing on our planet due to gravity, but this is a completely different story ...

Look up, there is a ceiling or sky. Look down, there is floor or earth. We use the words “top” and “bottom” dozens of times a day, without thinking about their meaning. We say: "What you toss up will definitely fall down." The ball flies up to the sky and then falls down. But here we see a lot of stars in the sky. Why don't they, like a ball, fall down?

What is the top and bottom

Wait a minute! Do the words “top” and “bottom” really mean what we attribute to them? If we fly to the South Pole, to Antarctica, then we will not have to go upside down there. Wherever we go on Earth, there will be heaven from above, and solid soil beneath our feet.

What we call the "bottom" is most directly related to the force of gravity (gravity). Objects fall towards the ground - we call it the “bottom” because they are attracted by gravity, which is under our feet. But if we move away from the Earth in a spaceship, then the concepts of “top” and “bottom” will lose their meaning. During space flight, there is only a huge empty space between planets and stars. Falling or “flying” stars are actually meteorites, fragments of stone or ice, drawn from space to Earth by the force of its gravity