Do stars fall in winter? Why do stars fall

At the end of almost every summer, you can enjoy an unusually beautiful spectacle - abundant starfall, when the sky is illuminated with luminous paths at night. Sometimes these are single “traces”, sometimes it is a real fiery rain. In especially “fruitful” years, many people specially go out for night festivities to admire this spectacle. Lovers kiss in the light Romantics are quietly thrilled by the sight of the colorful sky, poets write poetry. What is another name for shooting stars?

Superstitions and legends

The most famous and used sign: when you see a shooting star, you need to make a wish. If you managed to do it before it went out, your wish will come true. If you didn’t have time, either you don’t need it, or you don’t really want it.

A much lesser-known myth, which religious people are more inclined to believe: a shooting star is an angel who carries the soul to a newborn.

The ancient Greeks believed that a shooting star was a divine spear or arrow aimed against the forces of evil. For the Slavs, she personified death, for the Scandinavians - a soul that was forgiven by people and gods, for Muslims - a strong and evil enemy.

Scientific explanation

Meanwhile, even high school students have known for a long time that a star cannot fall. It is a huge ball of gas of unimaginable temperature. And if at least one such star crashes to Earth, there will probably not be any dust left from the latter. So what do scientists call shooting stars?

In fact, a colorful trail in the sky is left by a stone that has entered the uppermost layers of the earth's atmosphere. From friction with the air it becomes hot and begins to glow. Here's how. Falling stars are called “meteors” differently if they are small in size and burn up completely at a distance of eight to ten dozen kilometers, still in the atmosphere. Some meteors are so small that it is impossible to see their path without binoculars, or even a telescope.

What is another name for shooting stars, the “fragments” of which reach the soil? They differ large sizes, and most of them enter the atmosphere relatively slowly, allowing the air to slow them down. A meteorite looks like it rushes across the sky with a roar and crash, and after falling leaves a crater on the surface. It must be said that “stones” of this size, and even those flying in at the right angle and at the appropriate speed, are quite rare, so the fall of each of them is imprinted in human memory for a long time (the same Tunguska or the one that fell in Africa).

Sources of shooting stars

Individual meteorites are found at any time of the year. This is due to the fact that some random thing was captured magnetic field our (and any other) planet. Another thing is massive meteorite attacks (as falling stars are called differently, we have already found out).

Astronomers have established for sure that rain from falling stars only gives birth to comets. This cosmic phenomenon itself consists of a solid body (usually ice, but there are also rocky versions; although even comets made of ice contain solid inclusions). When a comet approaches a star whose temperature is off the charts, the ice evaporates, taking with it the solid components of the nucleus. The tail is made up of microscopic dust particles carried away by what is called the “solar wind.” Larger (and, accordingly, heavier) pebbles cannot be blown away by the wind. As a result, they create a donut around them, which astronomers call a “torus.” And if the said donut falls into the gravitational field of the planet, we have star rain.

Starfall as a phenomenon

Two notable meteorite showers have been recorded. One of them is called the Leonids, the other - the Perseids, by name from which they optically emanate. The first of them delight with waterfalls of stars through long years, but the second - every summer. All because the flow celestial bodies, which the Earth collides with, also has its age. If he is “young”, the starfall will be abundant, if he has already repeatedly encountered our planet (and perhaps with others on his way), then his “stone warriors” have already been fairly thinned out.

Why August?

What’s most interesting is that the August “star showers” ​​come regularly from year to year. Astronomers agree on why stars fall in August and not in other months. They believe that the culprit is the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, through which the Earth passes at exactly this time. What is good about this particular starfall? Something that is accessible to anyone, does not require any special equipment, and it does not matter where on the planet you are. It looks good and it makes me happy ordinary people, and not just astronomers.

Of course, there are more spectacular star showers. For example, the same Perseids promise just a grandiose fireworks display! Astronomers are looking forward to it. It is believed that the Earth has never seen a more magnificent starfall (at least there is no recorded evidence). But! We will have to wait until 2126 for what was promised. It is unlikely that even children born just a day ago will live to see this moment. So let's enjoy what is available to us now!

14.05.2017 17:41 769

Why do stars fall?

At night, you can sometimes see stars falling in the sky. Everyone knows the sign associated with this phenomenon: when you see a shooting star, be sure to make a wish while it is flying. It is believed that in this case the wish will definitely come true.

But do stars really fall? And why is this happening? Where do they then disappear if no one has ever found the fallen star?

Let us answer all these questions in order.

So, what all people mistake for falling stars are just relatively small stones that fly from space. They are called meteors. They are the ones we mistake for stars...

Approaching our planet, these stones collide with the air shell of the earth and at the same time become so hot that they begin to glow like stars. Before reaching the Earth, they burn out and go out.

If part of the meteor does reach the surface of the earth, it is called a meteorite. And very bright meteors are called fireballs, just like racing cars.

Hundreds of millions of such meteors can appear in the Earth's atmosphere per day. total weight their weight amounts to thousands of tons (millions of kilograms) per day.

In addition to meteors, about 100 tons of dust particles also fall to the Earth during the day. But they are too small to cause the appearance of meteors visible to the human eye.

There are days in the year when meteors appear in the sky much more often than usual. At this time, tens of thousands of meteors can be observed falling in one hour.

Scientists call this phenomenon a meteor shower, and popularly it is called star shower.

If you trace the paths of meteors in the sky, it may seem that they all fly out from one point. In science, such a point is called the radiant of the shower.

However, this is only a visual illusion. A similar impression arises when we look at railway and we see that the rails come together at the horizon. In fact, meteor particles move along parallel trajectories, that is, from different points.

Astronomers distinguish several dozen meteor showers. Many of them occur every year and can last from a few hours to several weeks.

Typically, meteor showers are named by the name of the constellation in which their radiant lies - the point from which they fly. For example, Perseids are meteors that have a radiant in the constellation Perseus, etc.

What causes meteor showers?

Astronomers have found that meteor showers occur when our planet Earth intersects with dust particles formed from the destruction of a comet. The fact is that when a comet approaches the Sun, it heats up from its rays and loses the substance of which it consists.

Under the influence of the gravitational force of the planets, over several centuries these particles form an elongated swarm (like a swarm of mosquitoes) along the comet's orbit. And so, if the Earth crosses this stream, then we can observe star rain every year.

The end of each summer marked by a magnificent and unsurpassed in its beauty event: a starfall. Anyone can watch it and there is hardly a person who will remain indifferent to this spectacle.

What do the legends say?

Since ancient times, a huge number of signs and superstitions have been associated with the fall of a star. Perhaps even a child knows that when a star falls, you need to make your deepest wish, and it will definitely come true. Ancient legend says that every person has his own star. It lights up in the sky when a person is born, and after his death, it hastens to fall to the ground and go out. At this moment, she fulfills any wish made by a person. If a person did not have time to make a wish, it means that he does not want something too much, or his wish simply will not come true.

According to another legend, a shooting star is an angel who hurries to Earth to give a soul to a newly born person. The stars meant souls that did not have a body; falling to the ground, they found one.

In ancient times, people believed that falling stars were arrows of the Gods who were at war with evil forces. Every nation has its own superstitions associated with a falling star. Thus, Muslims personified her with evil enemy, the Slavs believed that a falling star meant death, and in the Scandinavian countries it was a forgiven soul. In addition, there is a sign that when a person sees a shooting star, he will get sick and never get better.

Scientific point of view

However, science has long known that stars do not fall anywhere. The star is big ball consisting of hot gas. The sizes of stars are several times larger than the size of the Earth, so it is difficult to imagine what would happen if hundreds of such balls suddenly fell from the sky and flew towards our planet. However, something is definitely falling against the background of the dark sky and more than one thousand people have already witnessed this beautiful action.

In fact, what is commonly called a shooting star is just a stone that crossed earth's atmosphere. During flight, it heats up to such a temperature that it begins to glow and leaves a bright streak behind it. After some time, the stone burns, and its trace disappears without a trace. These stones were named. Thousands of such meteors fly across the sky every day. Some stones that were able to reach the ground are called meteorites. The largest of them fell in Africa, weighing 60 tons.

Why is it that in August you can observe the largest starfall? The fact is that at this time our planet passes through an area of ​​dust particles that it releases. Smallest particles, falling into the Earth's atmosphere, burn out and create a starfall effect. You can observe this beautiful phenomenon from anywhere. globe, and it is not at all necessary to have special equipment. The next time the comet will pass close to the earth will be in 2126. Until this time, we will be able to observe other starfalls, but, alas, there will not be such bright and impressive ones.

We've all made wishes more than once when we saw shooting stars. But have you ever thought about where they fall? What will happen to the constellations if one of the stars falls? And what makes stars fall if there is weightlessness in space?

What are the stars

To begin with, it is worth deciding what we mean by stars. If we talk in simple language, stars are massive glowing balls of gas. The star closest to us is the Sun. All other objects of this kind are significantly removed from our planet, which is why they appear in the sky not as huge luminaries, but only as small white dots.

Why do stars fall

Let's start with the most important thing, namely that stars don't fall at all. Objects falling from the sky are not stars at all and are just burning up in the atmosphere meteoroids(remains of comets and asteroids). The process of burning a meteoroid is called meteor, while meteoroids that do not burn up in the atmosphere and reach the Earth’s surface are called meteorites. The meteor trail usually disappears in a matter of seconds, but can sometimes remain for as long as minutes and even be moved by the wind.

As we have already said, meteoroids are most often the remnants of comets. As you know, comets circle the Sun and leave a trail of fragments along the entire length of their orbit. These fragments group together and form meteor showers. When crossing the Earth with such a flow, we see a “starfall”.

Intersection of the Earth's orbit with the orbit of a comet

When can you watch stars fall?

The fall of single meteoroids is a completely common occurrence, which is almost impossible to predict. But we are quite capable of predicting the intersection of the Earth with a large meteor shower, especially since this event repeats itself from year to year. Below we offer you a schedule of the largest star falls.

We strongly recommend that you take a closer look at the Perseids and Geminids. The frequency of “falling stars” when crossing these meteor showers can be several hundred per hour, and in terms of the number of especially bright “falling stars” no other meteor shower can compare with them.