laura

== *Shooting stars*

*What is a Shooting Star?*  DID YOU KNOW that shooting stars aren't stars!! They are actually chunks of space rock, or meteoroids, which get pulled into our atmosphere by gravity, then start to burn up because of friction. Once the meteoroids enter our atmosphere and start to burn, they are called meteors, and if large chunks are not completely burned up before they reach earth's surface, they are called meteorites.
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 *Shooting Star craters* Most meteorites end up quite small by the time they hit earth, but the craters they leave can be many times bigger..... Australia’s biggest Crater is Wolfe Creek. It was created 300 000 years ago by a 50 000 kilometre wide meteorite. The crater is 880 metres wide.

*Tektites *  Tektites are small, glassy black rocks created when meteorites hit Earth. The heat and force of the impact cause the rock to melt and the molten rock is splattered, creating tektites. Tektites can be found in Austalia... my dad found a flying-saucer shaped one in the Little Desert when he was a kid.

 *Meteor Showers* When large numbers of shooting stars are seen together, it is called a meteor shower. Meteor showers are caused when the earth passes through the debris left by a comet. Some meteor showers occur annually. They are more frequent in autumn and winter, and the number always increases after midnight and the very most can usually be seen just before dawn.

*What are Shooting Stars made of?* Meteorites can look very much like Earth rocks, or they can be burnt-looking. They can be dense metallic chunks or more rocky. Most samples are either iron, stony, or stony-iron.

Sixteen meteorit es have been found in Antarctica that are believed to have come from the planet Mars. Gases trapped in these meteorites match the gases of the atmosphere on Mars. (which was measured by a spacecraft in the mid-1970s.) There is still controversy about whether structures found in one of these meteorites, called the ALH 84001, might be fossil bacteria. If there was bacteria on Mars, there was life!!! Because bacteria is life. But if bacteria could survive, could Aliens as well???
 * Life on Mars???*

Shooting stars are sometimes confused with comets. In fact, the they are both completely different. Comets are made up mostly of frozen gases, and they orbit the sun. Their tails - the big bright streak behind them, can be millions of killometres across. Each comet has solid part, called a nucleus, often a few kilometers across. The nucleus is made up of icy chunks and frozen gases with bits of rock and dust in it.
 * Comets*[[image:comet_diagram.gif align="right"]]

*Meteoroids* A meteoroid is a sand to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The word meteor comes from the Greek word meteōros, which means "high in the air". As briefly explained before, Meteoroids are Shooting Stars while they are still in space. Meteoroids are separate from Asteroids, which are bits of rock floating in space too, but which are far larger then Meteoroids.

*Meteors*  Millions of Meteors occur in the Earth's atmosphere every day. Most meteoroids that cause Meteors are about the size of a pebble. Meteors become visible between about 65 and 120 kilometers above the earth. They disintegrate (burn up) at about 50 to 95 kilometers above Earth. <span style="color: #eaa414; font-family: 'Eras Light ITC',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;"> *Meteorites* <span style="color: #78be40; font-family: 'Eras Light ITC',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal;">There are three main types of Meteorites. The most common are stone Meteorites which are made up of minerals like OIlivine, Pyroxene and Feldspar. The next most common is Iron Meteorites which are mainly made up of Iron, but also nickel. The rarest of the three are the <span style="color: #5287ea; font-family: 'Eras Light ITC',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;">A Fireball is a Meteor that is way brighter than usual. The ‘International Astronomical Association’ defines a Fireball as "a Meteor brighter than any of the planets". We see fireballs as just bright Shooting Stars. · <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Eras Light ITC','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Meteors approach earth at speeds of up to 50 miles a second. · <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Eras Light ITC','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">You have to be quick to see a shooting star: They usually don’t last more than a second or two before they burn up completely and disappear. · <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Eras Light ITC','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">About 75 million meteors enter our atmosphere each day.Only one or two ever reaches the ground.
 * Fireballs*
 * Shooting Star facts:*

Hope you've enjoyed all this starry goodness!!! Laura B. Also, the font i used is actually way better it just disappears on your computer. ||