(meteorobs) Meteor Parallax

David Oesper oesper at aol.com
Sat Jan 13 22:24:47 EST 2007


If two observers seeing the same meteor are separated by a distance D
in miles, then they will see the location of the meteor shifted
against the background stars by approximately S degrees, as given by
the following equation:

S = 2 arctan (D/100)

This equation assumes that the meteor is seen when it is at an
altitude of 50 miles, and the curvature of the Earth is negligible.

Being curious about how far apart two observers might be and still see
the same meteor, it occurs to me that one cannot ignore the curvature
of the Earth.  However, I am at a loss to figure out the exact
mathematical relation.  Can anyone point me in the right direction on
this?

Thanks much,

David Oesper
Dodgeville, Wisconsin



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