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Re: (meteorobs) Long Duration Fireballs
-- [ From: Robert Lunsford * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --
> Does anybody have any idea as to how often/year could we expect to see
long
> duration fireballs...that is fireballs that lasts longer than 20
seconds? Is
> there any apparent certain time of the year when these long duration
fireballs
> occur?
> George Zay
George,
Perhaps I can stimulate a few more responses on this subject.
20 seconds is an eternity for true meteor phenomena. In my three decades
of observing I cannot claim to have seen any meteor last half this
duration and if I did I would surely have regarded it as man-made debris
. I can confident that no true meteor I have witnessed has lasted more
than 6-8 seconds let alone 20.
As for a periodicity of these events I believe the slowest meteors are
rarely associated with any recognized meteor shower so they are most
likely random occurrences. I do recall years ago the listing of a shower
called the Camelopardalids with an incredibly slow entry velocity of 7
kps (seems too slow to be possible!). Interestingly enough this shower
was active in March, a time already mentioned as the possible peak of
fireball activity for the Northern Hemisphere.
Bob Lunsford