When You Wish Upon A Meteor

They say: "If you see a shooting star, make a wish for it will come true." 

I say: "If you see a shooting star, you're probably on drugs because shooting stars are not stars at all."

Wishing upon a shooting star = NOT SO LEGIT

Yes, you read that right. Shooting star or falling star is just the common name for the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the Earth's atmosphere. And that visible path is called a meteor.

The root word meteor comes from the Greek meteōros, meaning "high in the air". Many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart are called a meteor shower.

A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. Around 15,000 tonnes of meteoroids, space dust, and debris of different types enters Earth's atmosphere each year.

If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite.

This is an exaggeration. 

A meteorite's size can range from small to extremely large. Most meteorites derive from meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids.

More generally, a meteorite on the surface of any celestial body is a natural object that has come from elsewhere in space. Meteorites have been found on the Moon and Mars.

Still can't accept it? Here's a song that'll help you:

A shooting star is not a star
Is not a star at all
A shooting star's a meteor
That's heading for a fall

A shooting star is not a star
Why does it shine so bright?
The friction as it falls through air
Produces heat and light

A shooting star or meteor
Whichever name you like
The minute it comes down to Earth
It's called a meteorite

SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid