(meteorobs) Point Meteor or Flaring Satelite
Chris Peterson
clp at alumni.caltech.edu
Fri Oct 14 11:17:28 EDT 2011
I also catch these sorts of flares every few days. I believe that a few
of them, caught over the last decade, are true head-on meteors. These
were all observed during showers, and were present at the radiant and
showed light curves consistent with other shower members. But the vast
majority are probably satellite flares.
I know that Pete Gural did an analysis (a simulation, I think) which
suggested that head-on meteors should be very rare events on meteor
cameras. If he's lurking out there, perhaps he could comment on his results.
Chris
*******************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
On 10/14/2011 6:47 AM, James Beauchamp wrote:
> My allsky camera catches them about once every couple of weeks. Too slow to be meteors. Perfectly stationary = NOT IRIDIUM. Always just after sunset or just prior to sunrise. Always about the same az/el as you described, so can't be geostationary.
> Orbitron never shows anything either, so the only thing I can think of is military SIGINT or ELINT in a molniya orbit with a BIG solar array.
> Something is up there watching us all :)
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