(meteorobs) re:: OT query: contrail-like formations on jet wing tips--vortexes

[bmccurdy at telusplanet.net]

Elton wrote:

> To move back "on topic",  it is conceivable that a meteoroid, in dark
> flight, could leave a legitimate visible contrail if it is 1)large enough--
> and 2) has some degree of laminar/smooth flow vs. turbulent flow--e.g. an
> oriented or slowly rotating body.

   This brings up another discussion to which I wanted to return at a quiter 
time for the list, and now seems as good a time as any. I don't wish to 
belabour the matter of dark meteors, which have been discussed here more than 
once in the three years I have subscribed to meteorobs, but I brought up a 
specific question once before which elicited no comment from any of the many 
experts on the list (and you know who you are). Over the years I have seen -- 
or should I say, suspected -- maybe four or five dark meteors, compared to a 
thousand times that number of luminous ones. Each has been a shock, but the 
last two or three times I kept my wits sufficiently to notice its path across 
the sky, and in each case it was fully or partially across the Milky Way. So I 
wonder if perhaps dark meteors can be seen in silhouette against the Milky Way 
in a similar manner as dark nebulae?

   I am not married to the idea, my own limited experience may simply be a 
fluke of small number statistics, but I can't quite rule it out either. 
Discussion?  

   regards, Bruce