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Re: (meteorobs) Re: meteor notes NM
In a message dated 97-09-03 22:13:19 EDT, you write:
Lew<<
Just a quick note: I myself have seen at least 3 or 4 of these
"dashed-line" meteors (i.e., two or more bright segments of the trail,
separated by apparent darkness). I suspect that they're actually fairly
common, which only compounds Wayne's concern about how to explain them
physically! One thing I've noticed is that all of mine were fairly fast
(3.5 or better on the NAMN scale). Could they possibly be caused by a
meteor traversing different layers of the upper atmosphere, each with a
different density and/or composition?
>>
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My guess is that somewhere along the meteor's path, the glowing heated up
material on the outside is suddenly ablated off, exposing the cold
interior...then having to reheat all over again to incandescence...meanwhile
the object has moved along and appeared to be getting bright, dark and bright
again.
George Zay
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