Which word or phrase in the passage helps the reader understand the meaning of the word "ejects"? Shooting Stars Have you ever looked up at the night sky and noticed a beautiful streak of light appear and then quickly disappear? People call this streak a shooting star. However, what you see is not a star at all. A shooting star may look like a ray of light, but it is actually a big lump of rock and metal known as a meteoroid. For over 1,000 million years, ever since the formation of stars and planets, these meteoroids have been revolving around the sun. A meteoroid travels at such an incredible speed that it begins to emit a hot red glow and ejects small particles of rocks that are burnt away. The tiny particles that it casts out trail behind and freeze instantly due to the extremely cold temperatures in space. This creates a beautiful shimmering tail behind the meteoroid. Often while revolving around the sun, the meteoroid comes close to the Earth and enters its atmosphere. The atmosphere changes the rock from red-hot to white-hot as it begins to crumble.