(meteorobs) Fw: Disintegrating meteor photos

[Swift, Wesley]

All,

	If it is a meteor, it is a slow one and approaching the camera
almost head on as shown by the short, bright head streak.  It is also a
large meteor coming in at a grazing incidence, as shown by the horizon in
the FOV.   Given that, the  trail would be almost 4 or 5 seconds duration
and shows the effects of disintegration into multiple spinning pieces fore
shortened by the telescopic effect and head on view.  A 2 second exposure
shows a lot more trail than one normally sees in video images and the short
arc of the head exposure tells us that the radiant is likely in the FOV.

	If it is not a meteor then it is a hoax.  In any case, it is an
interesting image that, in my video meteor experience, is consistent with a
large, long exposure, telescopic meteor (telescopic bolide?) taken near the
radiant.  It would be interesting to know if there were any observers
orthogonal to its path.

Wes

============================================
        Wesley R. Swift, Jr
     Raytheon ITSS / Sverdrup MSFC Group
     Marshall Space Flight Center
     EV13, Bldg 4487, room C-151a
     Huntsville, Al 35812
     (256) 544-1392 Fax 544-0242
 
       Home:
      704 Dellwood Rd.
      Huntsville, Al 35802
      wesley.swift at comcast.net
        (256) 881-4438
===========================================


-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of GeoZay at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 6:44 PM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Fw: Disintegrating meteor photos

 
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 
Bjorn>>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 
Bjorn>>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 
Bjorn>>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 
Bnorn>>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 
Bjorn>>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



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