If you're a true astronomy geek like many of us, you probably remember that event in childhood that got you started on this exciting hobby. It may have been the first time you looked through a telescope. But for many of us, it was the first time we saw a shower of fire from the sky that we eventually came to know as a meteor shower. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayWhen you see the first one, it's easy to remember the movie "War of the Worlds" or some other fantastical image of aliens entering our atmosphere en masse to take over the planet. But with some guidance and explanation of what was happening, we eventually learned that these downpours were not at all threatening or any kind of invasion. For the most part, meteor showers are harmless, part of nature, and very fun to watch. So what are these strange lights in the sky? Are aliens invading from Mars? Will comets arrive to start the next ice age? Or perhaps asteroids burn up when they enter Earth's atmosphere. The answer to the above questions is no to the first and "yes and no" to the other two. A meteoroid is actually a small piece of space rubble, usually dust or small rocks that come from a comet or the breakup of a planet. asteroid in space and eventually crashing towards earth. There are some interesting details about the life of a meteoroid that make observing shooting stars even more fun. To be seen, a meteoroid needs to weigh only one millionth of a gram. But what makes them so spectacular to see is the enormous speed they reach when they enter the atmosphere. Before burning, a meteoroid reaches a speed of between 11 and 74 kilometers per second, which is 100 times faster than a speeding bullet. We tend to think of seeing a shooting star as an anomalous event and associate it with the superstition of a lucky star). But there are actually thousands of them every year, so it's not that rare to see one. In fact, scientists tell us that each year over 200,000 tons of space matter enters the atmosphere and burns up on entry. Comets are a great source of meteoroids due to the nature of those long tails. A large amount of dust, ice and other space debris gets trapped in the tail of a comet as it moves towards the sun. Then, as the comet moves away from the sun in its orbit, tons of this matter are launched into space to disperse. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay As the Earth moves in its routine orbit around the sun, it often passes through clouds of this waste matter that becomes one of those "meteor showers" that are so popular to observe. These showers of shooting stars are fairly easy for astronomers to predict, so you can get in position to see the excitement at just the right time of night and look at the right area of ​​the night sky. Usually the astronomy magazine or site will give you a general time and location to be ready to watch when the meteoroids start falling. Now keep in mind that this is a natural phenomenon, so it may not keep time exactly.