关于流星的15个小秘密

1.The most famous and spectacular meteor shower, the annual Perseids, will peak on August 12th.
1.一年一度的英仙座流星雨是最著名、最壮观的流星雨，一般在8月12日达到高峰。

2.The Perseids are also called the "Tears of Saint Lawrence" after a martyred Christian deacon whom the Romans burned to death on an outdoor iron stove in A.D. 258.
2.英仙座流星雨也被称作“圣劳伦斯之泪”。这个称呼来源于公元前258年被罗马人烧死在大铁炉里的基督教殉道者圣劳伦斯。

3.Technically, a meteor is merely the streak of light we see trailing a meteoroid. A meteoroid is any interplanetary object bigger than a speck of dust and smaller than an asteroid.
3.严格说来，“流星”仅仅指“流星体”身后的那一道光，也就是我们看着划过天空那一道。而“流星体”则可以是太阳系内任意一个比尘埃大但比小行星小的天体。

4.Once it hits Earth, a meteoroid suffers an identity crisis and becomes a meteorite.
4.流星体一旦撞上地球，就变成了“陨石”。

5.Chase that, Superman: Perseid meteoroids enter the atmosphere at approximately 130,000 miles per hour.
5.英仙座流星雨的流星体进入大气层的速度约为130,000英里/时（209,215公里/时）。

6.Meteorites contain the oldest known rocks in the solar system, as well as minerals that formed around other stars perhaps billions of years before our solar system was born.
6.流星体中含有太阳系中已知的最古老的岩石，以及在太阳系诞生的几十亿年前在其他恒星周围形成的矿物。

7.Each day, up to 4 billion meteoroids fall to Earth.
7.每天落到地球上的流星体约有40亿个。