Meteors have in fact nothing to do with stars.
The high speed with which they enter the atmosphere causes extreme friction, this friction cause the material with which the meteor is made of to super heat and burn up. A meteor that is large enough may survive the trip through our atmosphere and actually impact the Earth's surface. When this happens we call the remains a Meteorite. It is about 4000 feet across and 600 feet deep and was made about 50,000 years ago.