OCR Text |
Show "Falling Stars" So-called falling stars, otherwise known as "shooting stars," are minute planetary bodies raised to incandescence incandes-cence by the resistance offered to their motion by the earth's atmosphere. Over a hundred millions, including those telescopically visible, are estimated esti-mated to be swept up daily by our planet, yet with no sensible increase of its mass, the vast majority of these cosmic particles weighing probably only a small fraction of an ounce. They fall about twice as thickly In the morning as in the evening hours 0e-cause 0e-cause the advancing side of the globe is fully exposed to their bombardment, bombard-ment, while the hemisphere behind is sheltered from it. |