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Re: (meteorobs) Visual magnitude
Sirko mentioned:
>If I recall it correct I read somewhere, that the luminous trail of a
>meteor has an actual diameter in the order of 1m. Don't ask me *where*
>this information came from, I think it was a result of some photographic
>investigation. It means that the apparent width of a meteor's trail should
>be of the order of a few arc seconds.
I'm surprised at the 1 arcminute width for trails. (Also, I wasn't sure how this
resulted in apparent widths on the order of arcseconds, Sirko?) I perceive trail
widths fairly clearly in two dimensions, especially for brighter meteors, and
I'm pretty sure that images subtending 1 arcmin or less wouldn't give my eye
this impression. Could I be witnessing some sort of optical "blooming" effect in
my eye, rather than actual meteor trail width?
Also persistent trains can occupy as much as (say) 10 arc minutes to my eye, if
they are long lasting and begin to "smear" quickly. From a few arcsecs up to 10 arc minutes seems like an extraordinary dispersion...
Lew, always curious
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