A Wonderleaf question
What is a shooting star?
a real page from the book
A shooting star is not a star; it is a speck of rock or dust from space burning as it hits Earth's air. The bright line is hot gas made during that fast crash, so the flash usually ends before anything reaches the ground.
The lovely part is how small the visitor can be. A grain no bigger than sand can cross millions of miles, meet our planet at enormous speed, and make a bright mark that a child can spot from the sidewalk.
Wonder words
- meteor
- meteoroid
- atmosphere
- vapor
Try it out
Stand outside after dark, choose one patch of sky, and count how many moving lights you can name together.
Read the whole picture book
Watercolour scenes, straight answers, about three minutes cover to cover.
Open the picture bookKeep wondering
- How do satellites stay in orbit?
- Could people live on Mars someday?
- What is a black hole?
- Why do astronauts float in space?
- Why is space so dark?
- Why is the moon sometimes out during the day?
And the next question?
Ask anything — Wonderleaf writes and illustrates a picture book for it. That's the whole idea.
Ask your own question