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. 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 ignorant Sim. 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 more adult Sim. The best chance for a Sim to be hit by a meteor is to be using a telescope outside.

When a meteor hits, a mushroom cloud appears. Usually, when meteor hits the ground it will start a huge Fire. Sims standing near enough will get singed and the ground will be littered with scrap metal and space rocks.

The ghost color is very similar to that of a Sim who died of a fire as it appears with a 'fire' texture but except that it has a blacker appearance and thus different. Their 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. In Ambitions there is 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.

A meteor can hit a building, which case everyone will run out before the collision. Those who do not exit the building will die. Sims automatically leave if a meteor is approaching, unless it is a school, in which children are not allowed to leave and will always die.

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.