title: Falling Stars: A Guide to Meteors and Meteorites (Astronomy)
author:  Michael D. Reynolds 
description: Traveling at 44 miles per second, ranging in size from dust particle to fist-sized chunks, burning up 50 to 75 miles above the earth and lasting half a second, meteors are fast, hot and out of control. Reynolds, executive director of Oakland, California's Chabot Observatory and Science Center, relays to non-scientists know-how for meteor watching (equipment includes lawn chair, bug repellant, binoculars), recording data, photographing meteors, the meteorological calendar, etc. 54 b&w photos. </P><P>Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.</P>
zlib_text: Pointblank:StarfistForceReconBookII
   
  CHAPTER 
  ONE 
  Planetfall in an Undisclosed Location 
  None of the watchers on top of the shore cliffs paid any particular attention to the meteorite that briefly 
  flashed down through the sky before it plunged below the horizon.
  The AstroGhost stealth shuttle dropped far enough out to sea that the diffused flares of its braking 
  engines, fired at five thousand meters altitude, weren’t visible from land. A ship at sea, seeing the 
  diffused flares, might be excused for thinking a meteorite was breaking up in the atmosphere. As soon as 
  the juddering of the firing brakes began to smooth out, the AstroGhost popped a drogue chute. The chute 
  tore off after only a few moments, but it was enough to cut the descent velocity; then the AstroGhost 
  turned its descent from straight down to a velocity-eating spiral, which further slowed its fall. At five 
  hundred meters, it gained a stable orbit and lowered its loading ramp. A Mark 8 Skimmer, a specialized 
  vers