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Re: (meteorobs) Re: Somewhat unusual (?) telescopic obs.

On Fri, 9 Apr 1999, Ed Cannon wrote:
> Thank you very much to Bob Lunsford and Dave English for the reply 
> messages.  Bob Lunsford wrote regarding the telescopic objects that
> my friend and I saw:
> 
> > How long did it take these objects to cross the field of view in the
> > eyepiece? 
> 
> These were zingers, crossing the field in just a fraction of a second.  

Definitely meteors then.

Bob Lunsford wrote:
> > Telescopic satellites are much more common
> > with a rate of about one per hour for me. To see two or three of these
> > objects at this time of the night would indicate to me you saw faint
> > satellites.

Observing from Britain I lots of satellites during telescopic
observations, and even several aircraft, which have the uncanny knack
of passing almost exactly through my field centre.  The faster ones
sometime make me jump for a fraction of a second, thinking it's a
meteor.  During the summer it's difficult to go several minutes
without seeing some satellite pass through.  Fortunately, there is a
clear distinction in angular speed between the meteors and satellites.
The fast satellites are still noticeable slower than the slowest
meteors (December's zeta-Aurigids).

> So anyway I'm pretty sure that what we saw were meteors.  

> Dave English wrote regarding the flash we saw:
> 
> >       You and your friend may 
> > have seen a Sprite, they are observed from 20-+300 miles away. 

I'm sticking with the thunderstorm.  For me the frequency of flashes 
I used to see was 20s-to a few minutes, and lasted for a couple of
hours, and sometimes all night (4-6 hours).

> limiting magnitude probably wasn't very good. (My friend tells me 
> that site was a LOT better 30 years ago!  But I guess that's, sadly, 
> a too familiar story.) 

Indeed it is.  Merging threads here, but I recall +7.3 stars from the
UK.  These days +6.3 is excellent.

Malcolm
tele@imodot net

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