Meteor. SYN. falling-star

ETYM French météore, Greek meteoros things in the air, from eoros high in air, raised off the ground; ; en in + ergon work beyond + aeirein to lift, raise up.
A meteoroid that has entered the earth's atmosphere; SYN. shooting star.
Flash of light in the sky, popularly known as a shooting or falling star, caused by a particle of dust, a meteoroid, entering the atmosphere at speeds up to 70 kps/45 mps and burning up by friction at a height of around 100 km/60 mi. On any clear night, several sporadic meteors can be seen each hour.
Several times each year the Earth encounters swarms of dust shed by comets, which give rise to a meteor shower.
This appears to radiate from one particular point in the sky, after which the shower is named; the Perseid meteor shower in Aug appears in the constellation Perseus. A brilliant meteor is termed a fireball. Most meteoroids are smaller than grains of sand. The Earth sweeps up an estimated 16,000 metric tons of meteoric material every year. + prikaži više

(Astronomy) Any of the small solid bodies traveling through space around the sun.
Chunk of rock in interplanetary space. There is no official distinction between meteoroids and asteroids, except that the term asteroid is generally reserved for objects larger than 1.6 km/1 mi in diameter, whereas meteoroids can range anywhere from pebble-size up.
Meteoroids are believed to result from the fragmentation of asteroids after collisions. Some meteoroids strike the Earth's atmosphere, and their fiery trails are called meteors. If they fall to Earth, they are named meteorites. + prikaži više

Another name for a meteor.