People who looked skyward the nights of Nov. 14 and 15 saw the year's amplitude of meteors. Earth was making its annual passage through the orbit of the Leonids. Their orbit is a vast ellipsis swinging beyond even Jupiter, and along its path race hunks of stone, iron and other minerals. When those pieces strike the Earth's atmosphere friction makes them terrifically hot. They burn with an intense blue flame. Some burn up entirely, some plunge into Earth's earth or seas, adding their mite to Earth's size and power among the astral bodies.
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