What is a shooting star and why does it glow?

Answer 1

A "shooting star" is a meteor or brightly glowing piece of rock, usually pebble-sized or less, that was in outer space but is moving now at high speed through the earth's atmosphere. Friction with the air makes it glow very brightly compared to the background illumination of the night sky. Most meteors that are burned up in the atmosphere. A few are large enough that a small portion actually hits the earth's surface and is then called a meteorite.

Meteors occur in daylight, too, but are too dim to be noticed, in most cases, against the brightness of the sun and the daytime sky.

Answer 2

"Shooting stars" is a slang term for meteors and meteorites. They seem to shoot across the sky because when they fall into our atmosphere from outer space, they get so hot that they burn up. A meteorite is a meteor that makes it all the way down and lands on Earth.

Answer 3

A "shooting star" is space debris caught in the gravity well of earth, and as they fall (at great speed) through our atmosphere, the air resistance causes them to heat up, so what you see is the debris "burning".

Answer 4

Shooting stars fall because they are asteroids that have gotten too close in Earth's orbit and are being pulled by gravity.

Answer 5

A "shooting star" is in fact a meteorite, we can see some of the larger ones because they are entering the Earth's atmosphere and they catch fire.