"From Out Of This World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

Practically all those found so far are of two kinds. The first kind is of stone,
like the rocks you see all around you. The second kind is of iron and metals
like iron. Some meteors have carbon in them and carbon is the element needed by
all living things. But there's no life in a meteor. If there were any, the swift
trip through the air would roast and kill it. The carbon, however, is sometimes
changes into tiny diamonds. You can't get rich from a meteorite, because the
diamonds are too small to be worth much, but the information a scientist can get
from one is worth plenty.

WHERE SHOOTING STARS COME FROM

There are certain seasons of the year when meteors are most often seen. In the
early and middle parts of August, for instance, you can see them every night in
great numbers.
These meteors them to travel together swarms, and the reason we see so many is
that the earth has entered the path of a swarm. Where did the swarms come from?
After many years of study, scientists think they know the answer. Many swarms
come from comets. A comet is usually seen in the shy with a bright head and a
long glowing tail. Some comets have a life of many centuries. But when they
break up, we sometimes find a meteorite swarm in their place. Not all comets
change into meteor swarms, and not all swarms come from comets, but many do.
Besides meteor swarms, there are many stray meteors, lone wolves that travel
through space alone. When a swarm hits the earth's atmosphere, you have a
"shower" of shooting stars. When a stray meteor hits, you see just one star at a
time.
Now, most of the swarms and strays seem to come from our own solar system; that
is, from the space between the sun and the different planets. Some may come from
other stars, but scientists aren't sure of that yet, and they are still studying
the question.
Cameras are being used that take a picture of a shooting star at the same time
from two different points. From the pictures, it’s possible to figure out where
the shooting star hits the air, and how fast it's traveling. Other pictures tell
us what kind of light the hot meteor gives out. From the kind of light, we can
figure what the meteor is made of, even if it never lands on the earth.
Radar is another method used for tracing meteorites. Radar follows the path of a
meteor, and in some cases scientists have been able to watch how the meteor is
slowed up by the friction with the air.
Still other fact-finders fly up to meet the shooting stars. At the time of year
when showers of meteors occur, these scientists fly up in Army planes and take
photographs with aerial reconnaissance cameras. They are able to watch what
happens when the meteor hits the air, gives a flash of light, splits in two, and
grows bright again.
All these methods help tell scientists what a meteor is made of, from what
direction it comes, how fast it is going, and how big it is. As they get more
information, they can figure out how old the meteor is, where it came from, and
other important facts.
All in all, shooting stars have many messages for us, telling us a great deal
about out what is going on in space millions of miles away. Same day, when men
travel through space themselves in rocket ship, much of this information will be
just as vital as information about icebergs is to the sailors on an ocean liner.