Heaven sent - Telegraph Traditionally, comets and meteors were terrifying omens - harbingers of the fall of kings, emperors and football managers. With our greater understanding of astronomy, we see a celestial visitor not as Shakespeare's "prodigy of fear and... portent of broached mischief," but a reminder of the beauties of the heavens. We have even learnt - perhaps inspired by the booklets that this newspaper recently produced, with the help of Sir Patrick Moore and Astronomy Now - to distinguish between meteors, meteorites and meteoroids, something that was apparently beyond the Met Office, when it sought to clarify the nature of the mysterious light recently streaking across the British sky. One day, Lembit Opik will doubtless be proved right, and such a cosmic wanderer will be the death of us all. Until then, best to enjoy their rare appearances while we can.