---
title: Meteors, meteorites and shooting stars — how Mova does on the tests · Space
description: Lesson 16 of the space course of Mova's primary school: 5 of 11 tests right, exam 0 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Meteors, meteorites and shooting stars

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**Tests:** 5 of 11 right · **Exam:** 0 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 7 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 16 of the space course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/).

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Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/).

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### Test 1 · wrong ✗ {#t1}

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My mate made a wish on a shooting star and said a star died for it. what's actually going on

- **1.** A real star fell all the way down to the Earth — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** A grain of dust burnt up high in the air — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** A star exploded right next to us — no support
- **4.** A satellite crashed into the Moon — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t1/)

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### Test 2 · right ✓ {#t2}

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Why do meteors burn up so high, far above the aeroplanes?

- **1.** They hit the air so fast that it glows round them high up — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **2.** They are lit by the Sun only up there — no support
- **3.** Aeroplanes shoot them down — no support
- **4.** They bounce off the clouds — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 16, line 3: «Rub your hands together hard and they get warm: a meteor hits the air at tens of kilometres every second, far faster than a bullet, and the air in front of it…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «meteor» (+3); the same action «hit» (+2); the same thing acted on «air» (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t2/)

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### Test 3 · right ✓ {#t3}

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A lump of rock is glowing across the sky. Ten seconds later a piece lands in a field. Name the two stages.

- **1.** First a meteor, then a meteorite — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** First a meteoroid, then a comet — no support
- **3.** First a meteorite, then a meteor — no support
- **4.** First a comet, then a star — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t3/)

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### Test 4 · right ✓ {#t4}

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In a film a shooting star is shown as a big rock crashing into a town every night. What is wrong?

- **1.** Nothing, that happens every night — no support
- **2.** Shooting stars are made of ice that melts — score 5
- **3.** Shooting stars only hit the sea — no support
- **4.** Almost all meteors are tiny grains that burn up high — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 7

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 1: «A shooting star is not a star at all: it is a grain of rock or dust, often smaller than a grain of sand, rushing into the Earth's air so fast that it glows and…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «star» (+4); the same thing acted on «grain» (+3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t4/)

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### Test 5 · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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If you face the wrong way on Perseid night, will you miss all the meteors?

- **1.** Yes, they only appear right at the radiant — **← Mova's choice** · score 7
- **2.** Yes, you must look straight at the Moon — score 2
- **3.** No, they can cross any part of the sky though they seem to come from one point — **✓ the right answer** · score 7
- **4.** No, because they all fall towards the ground near you — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 12: «The meteors of a shower seem to fly out from one point in the sky, called the radiant, though they can streak across any part of the sky, and the shower is nam…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «meteors» (+4); the same action «seem» (+3). The right option, 3, scored 7. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t5/)

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### Test 6 · right ✓ {#t6}

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ugh, my brother says all meteor showers come from comets. right or not

- **1.** Not all, the Geminids come from an asteroid — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 10
- **2.** No, they come from the Moon — no support
- **3.** Yes, every single one comes from a comet's tail — no support
- **4.** No, they all come from Mars — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 16, line 11: «The Geminids, peaking around 13 to 14 December, are one of the richest showers of the year and come from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon rather than a comet.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «geminids» (+4); the same action «come» (+3); the same place «asteroid» (+3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t6/)

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### Test 7 · right ✓ {#t7}

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You hear a boom and see a meteor brighter than Venus. What did you see?

- **1.** A fireball, made by a larger lump — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **2.** An ordinary tiny shooting star — score 2
- **3.** A star exploding — no support
- **4.** A plane breaking the sound barrier — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 13: «A fireball is a meteor brighter than the planet Venus, made by a larger lump, and it can sometimes break up with a boom heard on the ground.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «make» (+4); the same circumstance (+3). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t7/)

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### Test 8 · wrong ✗ {#t8}

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A meteorite turns out to be just like the rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts. Where did it most likely come from?

- **1.** The Sun — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The Moon — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Jupiter — no support
- **4.** Saturn's rings — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t8/)

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### Test 9 · wrong ✗ {#t9}

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Why was the Winchcombe meteorite so valuable to scientists?

- **1.** It came all the way from another galaxy far from ours — no support
- **2.** It was the biggest meteorite that anyone has ever found — **← Mova's choice** · score 5
- **3.** It was found within hours, so it was very fresh — **✓ the right answer** · score 4
- **4.** It was made of solid gold, right the way through it — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 14: «In February 2021 a meteorite fell on a driveway in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, and was picked up within hours, one of the freshest carbon-rich meteorites ever…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «freshest rich meteorites» (+3); the same action «find» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 4. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t9/)

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### Test 10 · wrong ✗ {#t10}

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Which is true?

- **1.** Meteor Crater was made by a volcano, not by a meteorite — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Big impacts are rare, but they have happened — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Big impacts happen every week — no support
- **4.** Meteorites have never hit the Earth — no support

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**Why:** Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t10/)

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### Test 11 · wrong ✗ {#t11}

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crap, the dinosaurs died from a meteorite? all of 'em?

- **1.** Yes, every dinosaur and every bird died at once — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Yes, and it happened 50,000 years ago — no support
- **3.** An impact helped end the non-bird dinosaurs; birds are their living relatives — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** No, dinosaurs never met any meteorite — no support

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**Why:** Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/t11/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1}

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Identify the designation applied to a body of extraterrestrial rock which has reached the surface of the Earth.

- **1.** A comet — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** A meteorite — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** A meteoroid — no support
- **4.** A meteor — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2}

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Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the nature of so-called shooting stars.

- **1.** They are stars descending towards the Earth — **← Mova's choice** · score 7
- **2.** They are reflections of moonlight upon clouds — no support
- **3.** They are small particles of rock or dust incinerated in the atmosphere — **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **4.** They are distant stars undergoing explosion — score 7

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 1: «A shooting star is not a star at all: it is a grain of rock or dust, often smaller than a grain of sand, rushing into the Earth's air so fast that it glows and…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «star» (+4); the same thing acted on «grain» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 3, scored 6. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3}

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State the term employed to denote the point in the sky from which the meteors of a shower appear to originate.

- **1.** The zenith — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The horizon — no support
- **3.** The equinox — no support
- **4.** The radiant — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4}

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Ascertain the parent body of the meteor shower designated the Geminids.

- **1.** The planet Mars — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The asteroid 3200 Phaethon — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** The comet Swift-Tuttle — no support
- **4.** The comet Halley, which comes every 76 years — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/16-meteors-meteorites-and-shooting-stars/e4/)

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- ← previous: [15. Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets/)
- next →: [17. Stars: what they are](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/17-stars-what-they-are/)
- ↑ back to [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/)