If the sky is blue, it’s probably going to be hard to see
shooting stars, which are more visible at night when the intense power of the
sun doesn’t obscure them from view.
A shooting star is actually a meteoroid, which makes its
distinctive bright slash across the sky as it hits the Earth’s atmosphere and
burns up. If part of it makes it to the ground, it is a meteorite. Meteoroids
are bits that fall off an asteroid, sort of like crumbs falling off a chocolate
cake. You do not want to get hit by a meteorite. It’s not like getting hit by
cake. Some of them are very large and consist of solid iron and rock.
If a meteorite hit you on the head, you would see shooting
stars inside your brain. Actually, you’d probably die first.
Some people use the occasion of spotting a shooting star to
make wishes, just as they do when seeing a moving vehicle loaded with hay, or
when they throw coins in a fountain or blow out birthday candles or rub a magic
lamp. If you wish upon a star, you’ll wake up where the clouds are far behind
you. Your troubles will melt like lemon drops, and you will be found high above
the chimney tops. This is what happens to people who see rare and random events
as occasions to express their desires in the belief that some cosmic force will
“make it so.”
A large meteorite zoomed into Russian airspace in 2013,
terrifying a lot of people. You can see it here.
The Magic of Jell-O,
MGR Publishing & Promotions Inc., 1998
