Shooting Star

A SHOOTING STAR (known in Spanish as ESTRELLA FUGAZ) is not a star. It is actually a meteorite entering the atmosphere of our planet. Since the atmosphere is full of gases, the materials that make up the meteorite burn because of the friction produced by the speed with which the meteorite enters. This burning usually destroys a good part of the meteorite though not all of it.  

The meteorite that entered our atmosphere recently, and was caught with a camera, is not an unusual occurrence since hundreds os these objects arrive all the time but the atmosphere protects us and takes over the problem before it actually becomes a threat. Sometimes we are not that lucky. If the meteor is actually a big chunk chances are that even with the protection of our atmosphere still a considerable portion of the meteor hits the Earth, or the oceans, and in both cases the damage would be considerable if not catastrophic. Evidence of large collisions can be found in certain parts of the world and it is presumed there are many more hidden because of the passing of time. 

We cannot have better proof of those collisions than looking up in the sky to seen the Moon surface: it is full of craters, each one a testimony of a terrible impact, each one a proof that we are not fully protected as we naively believe. Of course, the Moon has no atmosphere so it is more vulnerable than Earth in that, beside we should be thankful to have our Moon. It is really a big satellite that more often than not has served as our shield against meteorites.  

The one that hit Russia did not come alone but we were lucky all the others were relatively small. What if all of them had been five times larger? The consequences had been terrible to say the least. 

We cannot do much against the problem since the space around us is not so empty as we thought. Specifically ourn system is sorrounded by a cloud of these objects called "Oort's Cloud" and also between Mars and Jupiter there is the famous Asteroid Belt, a ring of   pieces or rocks floating in space, probably the remnants of a planet that existed between Jupiter and Mars. If for some reason one of them is taken away from its present orbit it can easily become a large threat for our planet.

We are in great danger all the time and ironically Shooting Stars could eventually be                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              the cause of our doom.