How can a meteor create such a firework display?
Meteors create those fleeting sparks that we call falling stars or shooting stars. Special equipment set up with delicate clocking checking gadgets can detect millions of these midgets every night. But once in a while we behold a razzle dazzle firework display of a major meteor. Clouds of dusty fragments hover around certain spots along the earth’s orbit. When our bulky planet lumbers through these regions we are treated to a shower of so called shooting stars. The firework display of arching sparks may continue through several nights. These sparks are merely specks of dust captured by the earth’s gravity and consumed by fire as they swoop downward. The year round quota of the usual shooting stars is created by dusty fragments and specks like gritty grains of sand. Millions of these minor meteors of solid matter collide with the earth’s atmosphere every day and night. They are space travelers of dusty debris that normally zoom through the vast expanses between the planets. A population
