My Art of Astronomy: What Is a Falling Star? (Part 17)

Sometimes a bright dot quickly flies across the sky. It looks like a star that has fallen. But stars never fall and have been in the same place from the beginning of time.

Falling stars are not stars at all. They are flashes high up in the Earth's atmosphere. They are caused by small grains of sand and rocks which have come from outer space. These little rocks travel at tremendous speeds and heat up on coming in contact with the Earth's atmosphere.

Falling stars flash higher than mountains and clouds. Higher than planes and stratospheric balloons fly. But they are lower than man-made satellites and the northern lights.