(meteorobs) Fw: Disintegrating meteor photos

[GeoZay at aol.com]

Bjorn>>Link to images is  at:
http://www.geocities.com/astrog2/explosion.htm
In a mail to the  photographer -Geir Øye - posted by Geir to the Norwegian 
astronomical society  list - Jack Drummond confirms that with 99.9% certainty is 
a meteor and  further :' This is the only image in world history that shows 
an incoming  meteor through a telescope exploding and at the same time leaving 
the trail in  the same image'. He was allowed to quote this by Dr. Drummond 
and added: 'the  image bears further study to eliminate other possibilities'. He 
added also:  'But scientists can never say something 100%'. He was interested 
in adding the  image to 'The small catalogue of meteor trails'.<<


I'm  sorry Bjorn, I just don't buy it. How did the in focus train a distance 
away  from the meteor, get there without blurring the train image? The train 
by all  accounts is in relatively fast motion. It would have to show up as a  
blur.   

Bjorn>>Comenting myself on the image and to Ed and Georges  messages:
I can agree on one thing: It doesn't look like an average meteor  image.
Note that the field of view is only 1x0.75 degrees. So it's a blow  up of 
what is taken by a 'normal' or wide field lens. So one might be in the  position 
to see structures and processes that is invisible in a 'normal'  meteor 
image.<<
 
Structures yes if the exposure was faster than 2 seconds. During those  two 
seconds, everything in motion adds to the exposing of the film. The train  
filaments had to be moving to get to where it is from the starting point of  the 
meteor itself. All this should be a smudge, blur, but not in relative  focus.

Bjorn>>One theory of what we see here: The possible meteor  comes from the 
right. At the instant the shutter opens, the bright (arc) trail  is at its left 
position. In 2 seconds it travels the bright (uneven) path to  the left. As it 
doesn't move especially fast it must have been braked heavily  by a 
preceeding incident.<<
 
If it's glowing bright enough to be photographed, its traveling quite  fast. 
>From what you are saying, It looks like the shutter opened while the  meteor 
was already in progress across the image and closed before the meteor  fully 
passed. But the existence of a train negates that. 

Bjorn>>The wispy smoke trail to the right was made in the  preceeding few 
seconds. As can be seen it has a more or less cone shape. It  has expanded more 
in the most distant (right) side, and tapers into the area  of the bright 
trail. <<
 
But why is there no hint of a train along the length of the meteor image?  
You are indicating that the train is moving fast enough to be some relative  
distance away from behind the meteor, but not at all alongside of it?
 
Bjorn>>The expanding and twisting movement has almost stopped at  the right, 
while must still be going on at the left. A small piece seems to be  falling 
down where the bright arc starts.<<
 
yes, this is where a big problem lies...how come the expanding and  twisting 
movement doesn't wash itself out into a blur?

Bnorn>>The reason why the bright part (the arc) is not tapered  at the ends 
is that it is shut off by the camera shutter - simply. It probably  had come 
from the right and continued further to the left,
but the camera  never picked up this. <<
 
That might explain one side of the meteor, but not both sides. I would  
expect some kind of tapering somewhere. A meteor passing across a telescope  lens 
with a field of 1X0.75 degrees is going to appear quite fast. A meteor is  
going to pass thru this field way before 2 seconds is up.
 
Bjorn>>The reason why the path is curved could be because of low  speed of 
the main mass and a rapid rotation around itself, like a spinning top  making an 
unpredictable path. <<
 
There is no "Low speed" while it's in its incandescent phase to make  it 
curve that short distance without destroying it. From all  indications, this isn't 
a very big object.  
George Zay