Ask the Astronomer

Tara Comeaux asks 2 excellent questions:

What does it mean when a star falls in front of you? And why are weathermen called meteorologists?

Astronomer William Georgevich replies:

Stars do not actually fall. (Well, maybe movie stars.) What appears as a streak of light in the sky is really nothing but space debris that the planet Earth is passing through on its yearly orbit around the Sun.

Weatherman are called meteorologists because in the 1800's scientists believed that meteor showers were a form of high altitude weather!

And Tara, did you know that Tara means star in Tibetan Sanskrit?