(meteorobs) Green Meteors

[Wayne Hally]

I guess it's time to put my 2 cents in.

 

I will summarize what Paul and George said in my own words, gentlemen,
please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Paul said basically that there are so many colors reported of the same
object, that one has to question the significance of the reported color.
"Seems it is just as we were discussing, no two people see meteor colors the
same way!   Doubt we can count on reported color of a meteor meaning very
much in the large scheme of things! "

 

George confirmed what Paul said, based on his extensive visual meteor
observing experience.

 

I too have stood beside people observing fireballs, and we have seen
different colors.

 

So IMHO, the point is, the color reported means very little.

 

We know (scientifically) that the human eye color system is most sensitive
in the green part of the spectrum. But witnesses see that as well as many
other colors. And everyone's perception of color is different. And most
fireball witness reports are from people who are reporting a unique event in
their life. Experienced meteor observers who, side by side,  watch the same
meteors report different colors. We know from meteor spectroscopy that green
lines are part of the spectrum, but so are many others.

 

So the question is, is the reported color significant? Probably not. NO
scientific study has ever said so. Should it be reported? Absolutely!! The
only way to acquire enough data for analysis is to collect more of it.

 

The problem occurs because some people hype the greenness of fireballs as if
there is significance. There is no demonstrated scientific analysis that
supports that conclusion.

 

Wayne

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.meteorobs.org/pipermail/meteorobs/attachments/20110615/cdf6b51d/attachment.html