Julie Hicks, age l0, of Potterville, Mich., for her question:

Why are there so many falling stars in August?

Every night of the year you can see a few so called falling stars arch across the sky. But between mid August and mid Novembers these falling sparks outdo themselves. They are, of courses meteors  tiny space traveling specks that catch on fire when they collide with the atmosphere of our bulky planet. Passing comets may leave trails of these dusty specks. Often the trails are across the orbit of the earth.

From Aug. l0 to l3, the earth passes through such a dust patch, and a swarm of meteors seems to fall from the sky. Sometimes another swarm occurs in early October. From Oct. l8 to 23, we get a meteor shower that seems to fall from near Gemini the twins. In early November a meteor swarm falls from the direction of Tarus, the bull.