Where Do Falling Stars Disappear? An Astronomical Journey

Rain from the Heavens

The water cycle on Earth is one of nature’s wonders. Ocean water evaporates, forming clouds that release rain. Approximately 80% of this rain falls back into the sea, while the rest nourishes the land. These waters then make their way back to the oceans through rivers or underground streams, manifesting as springs or wells, and the cycle continues. The verse in Ecclesiastes describes this cycle: 'All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place where the streams come from, there they return again' (Ecclesiastes 1:7).

Amazing discoveries in recent years have unveiled new insights into Earth's water sources. Many have witnessed a shooting star, a bright streak across the sky, which is actually a tiny rock from space entering Earth's atmosphere, heating up and burning. Daily, approximately 10,000 meteors, weighing about 100 tons in total, enter Earth's atmosphere. Most remain unseen.
Around 14 years ago, Louis Frank challenged his fellow astronomers and geophysicists with the question: why are so many meteors invisible to us? His surprising answer: most meteors are remnants of comets and consist of water. They melt in the upper atmosphere, long before penetrating it, and eventually fall as rain...
Frank substantiated his claims about 3 years ago by presenting space photographs showing a tiny meteor headed for Earth, absorbed into the atmosphere, and transforming into rain at a scientific conference.
Not only did scientists take Frank’s astonishing revelation seriously, but it highlighted a supply of extraterrestrial water to Earth!
Although Frank had similar images 13 years earlier, their poor quality led peers to dismiss them. However, he later obtained clearer images with advanced spacecraft, leaving no room for debate.
Fascinatingly, this topic was discussed in the Talmud. In Tractate Ta'anit (Page 9b), Rebbi Eliezer and Rebbi Joshua discussed the source of all the water, drawing from Genesis and Deuteronomy, reflecting two differing views. The Talmud interprets these verses, asserting that the clouds gather and ascend, receiving rainwater, loosening their hold over the land. Until recently, these concepts seemed mystical. However, as science progresses, more of the sages' sayings align with natural laws. This discussion also appears in Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 5), highlighting different rain types and their divine roles in sustaining blessings and prosperity on Earth.
Rabbinic Knowledge of Astronomy
The Talmud reveals the sages’ extensive and surprisingly precise knowledge of astronomy. For instance, astronomers in the Talmudic era spoke of only a few thousand visible stars. With Galileo’s telescope, numbers surged to thousands, and today we talk about trillions. However, in Tractate Brachot (Page 32), Resh Lakish mentioned a staggering star count which translates numerically to 1,064,340,000,000,000,000, or simply 18^10.
Another example includes the periodic returns of comets. Although Edmond Halley calculated the return of his comet in 1758 (seventy years post its last appearance), he didn’t live to see it proven correct. Significantly, ancient discussions already acknowledged such celestial cycles, as seen in Tractate Horayot (Page 10) and Tractate Brachot (Page 58), with narratives explaining the sages’ foresight about comet cyclicality compared to contemporary ignorance.
The Genesis Code
Another fascinating revelation is the monthly lunar cycle. Recent advancements, including atomic clocks and refined equipment on the Moon, have determined the lunar month's average length as 29.530588 days. The Talmud, in Rosh Hashanah (Page 25), recorded by Rabban Gamliel, asserts an incredibly close calculation of 29.53059 days over 2000 years ago, without modern tools.
Moreover, the starting point for lunar calculations, termed the Molad Beharad, translates to Monday, hour five, with two-thirds of an hour in Jewish time units. This code, tied to the concept of a Genesis-aligned universe, has its foundations in Torah verses, specifically encrypted within the word 'Bereshit,' which Rabbi Bachya interpreted as referring to a unique divine calendar.
Different Types of Stars
In Psalms 143, it is written: 'Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights above, praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His heavenly hosts, praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars.' Tractate Pesachim (Page 2) debates if only shining stars praise Hashem and concludes that all stars, even unseen ones, do praise the divine, hinting at the rabbis’ awareness of both visible and invisible celestial bodies.
This hypothesis aligns with modern astronomy's quest to identify dark celestial objects using advanced technologies and telescopes. Surprisingly, the ancient sages recognized these unseen stars, a concept baffling past astronomers but now validated.

Binary Stars
The story of creation states: 'God made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night, and He also made the stars' (Genesis 1:16). Rabbi Simeon ben Pazi questioned the characterization of these lights and elaborated that originally, the Sun and Moon were equal, but due to a divine command, the Moon diminished itself. Science now confirms that most stars in the universe are binary systems, often appearing singular due to distance, like the radiant stars in our sky.
Modern telescopes easily detect these binary stars, defying the assumed uniqueness of our Solar System. According to Rabbi Simeon ben Pazi, the Sun and Moon started as twins until the Moon’s reduction, providing clarity to this ancient mystery.
Given these insights, it's intriguing that both the Sun and Moon appear equally sized to us, although the Sun is 400 times larger in diameter than the Moon, yet also 400 times further away, offering an exact visual symmetry.
Concluding Thoughts
Ending with wisdom from Robert Jastrow, an agnostic scientist, reflects the profound intersection of science and faith: 'For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the ending of the story is like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.'