Tessa Cassle, age 8, of Mason, Michigan, for her question:

Do falling stars really fall?

First of all, let's face the fact that a real star is at least a million times bigger than our whole world. What's more, it stays right where it belongs in the sky. Thank goodness. So whatever it is that looks like a falling star certainly is not a real star crashing down to the ground. Chances are, it is a speck of material about as big as a grain of sand. Sometimes it is as big as a pebble and once in a great while the earth may be whacked by one as big as a boulder. But this is very, very rare.

The experts call them meteors    and there are zillions of them out there in the vast spaces between the planets. They are bits of stone, metal or soft clay material. As our great big round earth rolls on its way, it is forever bumping into these little space traveling meteors. When this happens, they come swooping down and catch fire in the air above.. Most of them burn to ashes while they are still miles above the ground. Their fine ashes drift down later. A few of the larger ones fall all the way down to the ground. (Copyright Chronicle Publishing Co. 1974)