Yet these cosmic grains of sand and gravel can put on quite a spectacular show . The answer is their astronomical speed, as these particles enter Earth's atmosphere at around 71 kilometers per second . In the high-speed collisions with air molecules , electrons are stripped from atoms as meteroid material is blasted away. When the electrons recombine with the atoms, light is emitted. This dramatic example of a brilliant 1999 Leonid meteor was photographed while tracking the stars in partly foggy skies on November 18, from a location near Dagali, Norway.
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