rushing stars = shooting stars

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

At about ten o’clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows, and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars.

rushing stars = falling stars, shooting stars

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[NorwichEnglish]

I've never heard of shooting stars (meteors) being described as rushing stars. I've been interested in astronomy for years. Martin

[vil]

Hi NorwichEnglish,

Thank you for your categorical negation of my spontaneous interpretation of the expression “rushing stars”.

And yet:

A heavy runaway star is rushing away from a nearby stellar nursery at more than 250000 miles an hour, a speed at which one could travel to the our moon and ...

http://javaboutique.internet.com/3DStarfield/

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AstHe..91..255T

Is WWE rushing their stars too quickly?

Would you be kind enough to explain to me the meaning of the expression in question which was written by the famous writer Steinbeck in his popular book “Of mice and men”?

If I were John Steinbeck I would use in the present case the expression “bright (dazzling) sparks”.

Regards,

V.