Question

Fill in the blanks:
A shooting star is a ……………..
A. Comet
B. Meteor
C. meteorite
D. none of the above

Answer 1

Hint: When an asteroid passes the earth, its debris is left behind in its path. If this debris is in the path of the earth, then it may enter into the earth’s atmosphere. When it enters the earth’s atmosphere, due to friction they burn and appear like a shooting star. The space rock and debris leftover by the asteroid in its path are called meteoroids. When these meteoroids enter the earth’s atmosphere they are called a meteor and if they are large and enough to survive and reach the earth’s surface then they are called a meteorite.

Complete answer:
The shooting stars actually have nothing to do with stars, they are just astronomical debris or rocks that enter the earth’s atmosphere with high velocity. Due to atmospheric friction, this debris or rock will burn and produce a streak of light which looks like a shooting star.

The universe is full of debris left by asteroids, and other dust and rocks which are unable to find planets or satellites. This debris outside the earth’s atmosphere is called Meteoroid. The earth revolves around the sun and while revolving it encounters meteoroids in its path. When these meteoroids come near the earth, due to gravitational attraction they fall into the earth’s atmosphere, due to friction, a large amount of heat is generated and the meteoroid will burn and produce a streak of light and they are called meteors. If a meteoroid is large enough to survive and reach the earth’s surface then they are called a meteorite. The size of the meteoroid varies from the size of the grain to the size of the asteroid.
Therefore, a shooting star is a meteor.

So, the correct answer is “Option B”.

Note:
On a particular night you can observe a large number of meteors and it is called a meteor shower. Meteor showers are named by the names of the constellation through which they appear to originate. The meteor shower is an annual and regular astronomical phenomenon. At the hours you may observe 400-600 meteors per hour. Meteoroids contain the footprints of the universe. Lonar lake in Buldhana district of Maharashtra state, India was created due to a meteorite.