Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1891 — The Theory of Falling Stars. [ARTICLE]

The Theory of Falling Stars.

Falling stars are nothing more than little bits of stony material which have been leading an independent existence ou the outer realms of space, but, having come within the attractive influence of the earth, they are drawn down upon its surface. As they rush with headlong velocity through tho atmosphere, they are rendered luminous by the heat developed by friction. The interest attaching to them has been greatly increased of late years by the. fact "that some astronomers see in such bodies the raw material, as it were, from which the visible universe is built up. Space is supposed to be full of them, and, in some parts, they gather into clusters, which, by collisions among the individual members, become luminous. By the action of gravity these clusters become more and more condensed, forming nebula?, stars in various stages of formation, apd, finally, suns and worlds like oiw-own. The earth, in its course round the same luminary, occasionally parses through the paths of these stony 'fragments, and If it meets them, draws down upon itself a starry shower whi9h we see.