Shooting star

Dear Lilliputian ,

When I was a child we believed if you just happen to see a shooting star you could make a quiet wish and that it would come true . Did you ever watch Pinocchio . the Walt Disney movie ? Do you remember Jiminey Cricket singing a song " When you wish apon a star, makes no difference who you are . . . " ? Do you remember that Jiminey is singing about making a wish on a star ?  So whether it is a shooting star or the " first star I see tonight " . . . stars have been thought to have a bit of magic in them .

 If  you have any wishes you want to make , this is the week to make them , because every night this week there will be shooting stars in the sky . I must say , you have to have patience to see a shooting star . And ,  you have to watch the sky very seriously , because if you don't they disappear before you even see them . The best way to watch for a shooting star this week is to sit or lie outside when the sky turns dark and watch in the Northeast sky . If you cuddle under a blanket and use some
 bug spray , the mosquitoes may not bother you . 

I know that often your bed time is too early to see shooting stars . . . but I wanted to tell you about the shooting star showers that are happening this week just in case you happen to be up when it is dark out . If you feel you are too young to watch for shooting stars . . . I completely understand because I was probably ten years old before I saw my first shooting star . The reason I am telling you about them is because seeing a shooting star " takes your breath away " . . .  or , in other words it makes you gasp because they are so beautiful . If you are too young this year to see a shooting star . . . just remember that every year the second week in August has Meteor showers and so sooner or later you will get to see a shooting star , so don't give up .

Here are some interesting facts about shooting stars .

1 . Did you know that scientists don't call them shooting stars . . . they call them Meteors ?
 Also when the shooting star is in outer space the scientists call them Meteoroids . When the shooting stars come to our sky the scientists change the name and call them a Meteors , and when it crashes into earth only as big as a grain of sand . . . then scientists call the shooting star a Meteorites .
2 . Shooting stars are very fast when they are in outer space . . . they travel at about 133,200 miles and hour !
3 . A shooting star is very , very , hot when they are burning up . . . They can be about 3000
degrees . If you see a shooting star and it is very bright that is when it is hot but when you see it dissapear that is when it becomes very cool and is not hot at all .
4 . When you see a shooting star it looks like it is going to crash into earth far, far away . . . but very few do . They usually disappear before they reach our land . If they do make it all the way to the ground they are usually the size of a grain of sand and or a pea . If they reach earth they don't look like a glowing star they look like a rock .

There are many more interesting things about shooting stars . . . but I will let you wait till you are in school or get a book out of the Library to read about them . . . I want you and I to enjoy this next week watching for a shooting star each night . . . and maybe even making a wish or two .

One of the ways I learned about the stars is by reading a book by the author and illustrator of the Curious George books . The author's name is H. A. Rey and he loves monkeys but he also loved the stars and so he wrote a  book that taught me a lot about the names of the stars and the pictures they form in the night sky and it is titled Find the Constellations . Mr. Rey shows you how to find the Big Dipper and Little Dipper and many more like Orion who is holding a bow and is called the Hunter . But if you don't feel like reading about stars . . . I know you will like to read the Curious George stories .

Until next time ,
Wildbee