Some of you do not know the old superstition. On a clear night, a bright star rolls down from the dark sky, which means “someone has died.” This superstition arose at a time when people did not yet have any clear idea of ​​the sky. It was believed that the sky was a solid blue vault resting on the Earth. And to this solid sky are attached a kind of small lamps - stars. Each person supposedly has his own star in the sky; it lights up with his birth and “falls” with his death.

The days of such ignorant ideas about the sky and stars are over. We now know that every star is a huge celestial body, often many times larger than our Sun. And it is absurd to think that along with the birth of people on Earth, huge celestial bodies appear in the universe. Of course, there is no connection between human life and the stars.

In reality, “falling stars do not exist either. And in fact, every evening we watch how tens and hundreds of “stars” “fall” from the sky, and at the same time all the constellations in the sky remain unchanged. What is the matter here? And the fact is that the so-called “falling stars” have no connection with real stars. They are just small grains of matter that fly into the atmosphere from outer space. Scientific name“falling stars” - meteors.

Currently, science has established that in the world interstellar space Many small solid particles are rushing in different directions - small stones and blocks, large and small specks of dust. Often these particles meet the Earth and fly into our atmosphere at tremendous speed (tens of kilometers per second). At an altitude of 150-120 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the meteoroid body begins to experience air resistance; a kind of compressed air “cushion” forms in front of it. Meteor particles of matter become very hot and turn into gases, on average already at an altitude of 130-60 kilometers above the earth's surface.

The particles of matter that give rise to meteors mostly weigh fractions of a gram.

At times in the sky you can observe not individual “falling stars”, but a whole “rain of stars” (Fig. 24). Of course, there is no miracle here either. This celestial phenomenon is observed when the Earth meets on its path not with individual meteoric particles, but with entire swarms of these small particles. They are often the remains of previous comets. Every moment during this time, dozens of fiery meteors are observed. A memorable spectacle for a long time!

Such a large “star shower” was observed, for example, in October 1933, as well as in October 1946.

Meteor showers also occur, as we have already said, when the Earth collides with a comet nucleus. For this reason, the “rain” was especially bright in 1885, during a new meeting of the Earth with the remnants of Comet Biela.

In past centuries, superstitious people associated the phenomenon of “star showers” ​​with events on earth and considered them a harbinger of bad things. Without knowing the reasons for this unusual phenomenon, not knowing how to explain it, people believed “once again” absurd inventions.

Now we know not only the cause of this phenomenon, but we can also predict the time of occurrence of meteor showers.

"rains" in the future. It is known that every year the Earth encounters the same clusters of meteoroids on its way around the Sun in certain months. For example, every year on August 9-14, the Earth encounters a swarm of meteor particles. On these days, weak “star showers” ​​are observed annually.

At the same time, it seems to us from the Earth that a stream of meteorosis flies out, as it were, from the constellation Perseus. That's why the annual August meteors are called Perseids. The Perseids have been observed for over 1000 years!

There are meteor showers that produce abundant “star showers” ​​only once every few decades. This is the stream of meteors emerging from the constellation Leo - Leonids (from the word leo - lion). The Leonids give abundant “star showers” ​​once every 33 years. Previously, the Leonid fallout was described by historians and chroniclers as outlandish “heavenly visions.” In China they were noted more than 3,700 years ago.

Brilliant “star showers” ​​are sometimes produced by April meteors (April 19-22), emerging from the Lyra-Lyrid constellation. The last such “rain” of the Lyrid was in April 1952.

Sometimes you can see a beautiful spectacle in the night sky, which we call a starfall. There is a belief that if you make a wish while a shooting star goes out, it will definitely come true. But what is the true nature of this phenomenon?

Do stars fall?

In astronomical terms, a star is a huge hot ball of hot gas, many times larger than our planet. You shouldn’t even imagine what the Earth would become if one of the stars actually decided to fall on it. The closest star to us is the Sun. This is not the most big star in the galaxy, but its size is hundreds of times greater than the parameters of our planet.

What we call shooting stars are meteors that begin to glow as they pass through a planet's atmosphere. Their glow is due to the high speed at which they become very hot from friction with gases. Hundreds of millions of meteors fly through the atmosphere every day, and only a few reach the earth, becoming meteorites. During the day, sunlight does not allow them to be seen. But at night, when the atmosphere becomes transparent, they are very similar to stars. Often a bright trail can be observed behind a flying star. This is an accumulation of gas and tiny particles of cosmic dust.

How wonderful are the warm nights at the end of summer. The smells of forbs and sun-mellowed earth can be heard in the air. The bright tails of stars falling from the sky continually streak the inky space with flashes.

From time to time, nature arranges this “star show” especially for romantics who believe that their most cherished desires come true when stars fall to the ground.

Do stars really fall?

Fortunately, stars don't actually fall during a meteor shower. More precisely, they, in principle, can fall, but it will look completely different. In any case, what we periodically observe in the sky in the summer has nothing to do with these astronomical objects.

A star is a giant blob of hot gas. Its dimensions are very large. The star closest to us, the Sun, is a medium-sized celestial body. However, it can accommodate several volumes of planet Earth. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if objects of this size fell onto our planet from time to time.

Scientists explain that a star, in principle, can “fall”, for example, into a black hole or even onto a planet. Only the spectacle that we are accustomed to calling a starfall has a completely different astronomical nature. And it is incorrect to call this phenomenon a “shooting star.” It’s just that this name has been formed since those ancient times when people knew very little about space.

What astronomical phenomenon do we mistake for a falling star?

Something is constantly changing in space, stars are born and extinguished, planets appear and disappear, comets move and collapse. And all that remains from this " building material" rushes through the Universe at enormous speed, periodically “settling” on the surface celestial bodies.

This accumulation of “garbage” consists of both completely invisible particles - cosmic dust, and quite large objects - meteoroids. Once in the layers of the earth's atmosphere, as a result of friction, they heat up to such an extent that they begin to glow. Therefore, we see a bright flash in the sky, which we mistake for the tail of a “falling” star.

What is star shower?

When large comets disintegrate, a large accumulation of particles of different sizes is often formed, which is called a swarm of meteoric bodies. Due to the force of gravity, they continue to “rush” behind their former “home” throughout space in the form of a kind of “trail”.

If our planet, in the process of its movement, intersects with the trajectory of one of these “trails,” then we can observe a meteor shower, a meteor shower, or, as it is also called, a shower of stars in the sky.

What is the difference between meteors and meteorites?

Meteoroids are usually fragments of asteroids and other large celestial bodies. Most often, when they enter the earth's atmosphere, they burn up. This astronomical phenomenon is called "meteors". Those meteoroids that did not burn up in the atmosphere and still flew to the surface of the Earth are called “meteorites.”

Meteorites can vary in size. The weight of the largest that scientists were able to discover is about 60 tons. The first mention of a meteorite falling from the sky dates back to the times ancient Rome, in 467 BC. It was recorded by ancient Roman historians.

What time of year is best to admire the starfall?

The Earth intersects with meteor swarms with a certain periodicity. Each of them is named in accordance with the constellation in which the “point of departure” of these particles is located (it is called the radiant). From Earth it appears that they are directed from a single point, but this is just optical illusion. In fact, the particles fly in parallel. The illusion is explained by the enormous distance.

There are meteor showers: Aquarid, Leonid, Perseid and others. One of the most powerful and spectacular is the Perseid shower, which can be observed annually in the summer in the northern latitudes of the Eurasian continent. The Earth passes through it for a whole month, during which tens of thousands of meteors fly by per hour. But the peak occurs from August 12 to 14.

The Perseids belong to comet Swift-Tuttle. It itself approaches the Earth no more often than once every century and a half, but our planet encounters its trail of dust particles every year.

In addition to the Perseids, there are several more annually recurring meteor showers. They occur at different times of the year, but not all of them end in star showers. The most spectacular of them include the Taurids and Orionids, which can be enjoyed in October and the first half of November, as well as the Leonids and Geminids, which occur in November and December, respectively.

Young men in love can be advised to carefully study the schedule of starfalls and the forecast of their intensity. This new knowledge can be successfully used to organize the most impressive date. What could be more romantic than showing a girl a shooting star and giving her the opportunity to make a wish?

Video: why do stars fall and how does it happen?

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. So, Muslims personified it with an 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. A star is a large ball 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 rock that crossed the 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 possible to observe the largest starfall in August? The fact is that at this time our planet passes through a region of dust particles that it releases. The smallest particles entering the Earth's atmosphere burn up 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.

There is a belief that if you have time to make a wish during the fall of a star before it touches the ground, it will certainly come true. This statement arose in ancient times. The sky has always been mysterious and alluring with its unknown.

Different peoples had their own assumptions about this. Some believed that a shooting star was a soul that descended to Earth to enter a newborn child. Others are sure that she arrives at the moment of conception to give a new life.

But the ancient Maori believed that a shooting star is nothing more than the soul leaving the body of a deceased person. And we see in the sky her path from the world of the living to the lower world. Residents of Western China believed that every person has his own star. He must pray to her and respect her. It was believed that after death, a star descends from the sky and passes away with the deceased.

Where does a shooting star go?

In reality, everything is completely different. After all, each of us knows from school that stars don’t fall. A star is a collection of hot gas in the form of a huge ball. In addition, the entry and exit of souls has not been proven by science. But it has been proven that what is popularly called a shooting star is stones or fragments of celestial bodies flying from space. When they come into contact with the air shell of the Earth, they become so hot that they begin to glow.

The reason for this is the force of friction. However, under the influence high temperature caused by friction, they rarely reach the ground. They burn without touching its surface. Such fragments are formed far away outer space when two or more asteroids collide. From them, many fragments scatter in different directions, some of which fall on Earth.

The gravitational force of our planet pulls meteorites flying past at great speed into the atmosphere. Multiple falls of asteroid debris from the Earth look like star rain. Especially large pieces do not burn completely and fall to the ground in the form of stones. And the star rain turns into stone. Meteorites vary in size. It can be either the size of a pea or several meters in diameter. The largest meteorite that fell to Earth was recorded in Africa. Its weight was about 60 tons.

Over the entire existence of our planet and its satellite, such falls have occurred quite often. Traces of their fall are very clearly visible on the surface of the Moon. We see them in the form of craters. On Earth, most of the craters have disappeared. Some are hidden under the oceans, others were filled with lava and covered with ash during volcanic eruptions. In a clear sky at certain times of the year, you can see a shower of stars. The scientific name for this phenomenon is a meteor shower.

The meteors that make up the stellar stream are particles of ice and dust that came off numerous comets. When the Earth passes through a trail of dust particles trailing behind a comet, it pulls these particles into the atmosphere by the force of its gravity. As a result, we can observe an amazing spectacle - a starfall. Astronomers have long learned to calculate the time of this mysterious phenomenon. To observe the movement of comets and the fall of meteors, no special devices are needed. They are perfectly visible from Earth with the naked eye.