Shooting Stars Are Not Actually Stars

These meteoroids are often no bigger than a grain of sand or a pebble. As they hit Earth's atmosphere at high speeds (tens of thousands of miles per hour), friction with air molecules causes them to heat up and incandesce, creating a bright streak of light called a meteor. If a piece survives the journey and hits the ground, it's called a meteorite. True stars are giant balls of plasma, like our Sun, located trillions of miles away.