We know them as "meteors" or "shooting stars" or "falling stars." They are actually not stars, but solid objects which penetrate the earth's atmosphere from outer space at high speeds. The technical term for these solid objects is "meteoroids," and they range from the size of an atom to a few meters. A visual meteor, or "shooting star," is produced when the meteoroid is vaporized in Earth's atmosphere. The glow from these objects is caused by air resistance as they enter the earth's upper atmosphere. A group of such objects is called a "meteor shower."
The word meteor is derived from a Greek word "meteron," meaning "something high up."
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