(meteorobs) Reports of bright meteor from Queensland, Austral ia

[Matson, Robert]

Hi All,

Marco is absolutely right on this one -- bolides are common events.
(Think how many each of you has seen in his/her lifetime.)  Thousands
occur each day. In contrast, how many of you have seen a satellite/
space-junk reentry?  Probably fewer than 1 in 100 -- this in spite
of the fact that most of you are active sky observers.  In the
general population, the number is probably fewer than 1 in 1000.

So it boggles the mind that space junk is nearly always mentioned
as a reasonable possibility following each new bolide event -- even
when the bolide travels east to west!!  I'm also bothered that so
much emphasis is placed on the color of a meteor -- as if that
means something important as far as distinguishing meteor from
space junk, or chondrite from iron.  It doesn't mean diddly (or
perhaps more accurately, it means next to diddly).

If people want to be good observers, they need to learn to measure
USEFUL parameters with some accuracy:  two points anywhere along
the trajectory (either in azimuth/elevation or RA/Dec), the farther
apart the better; the approximate time it took to go from the
first point to the second point; the UTC date/time of the event
(nearest minute is fine); and finally their coordinates.  If you
have a stopwatch on your wristwatch, get in the habit of clicking
"start" within seconds of the event if you can.  Barring that,
count seconds in your head from when you first spotted the meteor,
and if it was extraordinarily bright keep counting for at least five
minutes (or until you hear a sonic boom, whichever comes first).
If you *do* hear a sonic boom, note the time difference between
when you first spotted the bolide and when the boom was heard.

If more people did these things, it would make the job of
triangulating any resulting meteorites a lot easier for analysts
like myself.  --Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 7:23 AM
To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Reports of bright meteor from Queensland,
Australia


Well,

Does anybody know why Ozzie astronomers in public education roles are so
keen to 
deem every bright fireball "possibly space junk" rather than a meteoric 
fireball? This appears to be the trend I noted the past few years.

The point is that space junk decays are relatively rare compared to
meteoric 
fireballs - so they are picking the least likely option.

Moreover, they do not seem to be aware that you can *check* whether
something is 
a space junk decay or not. That stuff is being tracked! Virtually
everything 
larger than a football in Low Earth Orbit has been catalogued.

- Marco

-----
Dr Marco Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)

e-mail: meteorites at dmsweb.org
private website http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek
DMS website http://www.dmsweb.org
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