Meteor

Death by meteor is a form of death in The Sims 3, introduced in The Sims 3: Ambitions. It is the successor to Death by Satellite which was seen in The Sims 2.

Whenever a Sim is standing in an open area, there is a very small chance a meteor will fall directly on top of them. Whenever a meteor is about to fall on top of a Sim, a large shadow will appear around them and ominous music will play. A message will appear stating that your Sim wonders why it suddenly got dark. All Sims on the lot will run outside to look up curiously at the sky, and the meteor can be seen if the camera view is in the right position at the exact moment it falls, or if you zoom out at the right time, you can see the meteor streak across the sky. When a meteor hits, a mushroom cloud appears. The player has plenty of time to move the Sim out of harm's way, but if they do nothing the meteor will crush the Sim. Using a telescope outside increases the chances of getting hit by a meteor.

An impact of a meteor also creates fires and Sims standing near enough will get singed. The ground will be littered with scrap metal and space rocks.

A meteor can also hit buildings. Sims will automatically leave the building if a meteor is approaching. Those who do not exit the building in time will die.

Meteors never fall directly on children, though they may still get crushed if they stand close enough to the impact zone of a meteor aiming for a larger adult Sim.

The ghost color is orange with small hint of black with smoke rising from it and thus different than if the ghost died from fire. The tombstone depicts a meteor.

Unless mods are used, it is almost impossible to be hit by a meteor, so this is a very uncommon form of death. Only one premade Sim, Steward Curious, died from being hit by a meteor.

As with some other types of death, the only types of Sims who cannot die in this way are ghosts (playable or non-playable), babies and toddlers.

Related
In The Sims 2: Seasons, using the Weathernaught 57X with low aspiration carries a high chance that meteors will fall from the sky and start fires. Sims in range of the meteors can be set on fire.