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Re: (meteorobs) Green meteors
See
http://www.comet-track.com/meteor/leonids98/6x7/6x7.html
The big Leonid '98 fireballs I recorded on film have a strong green
component
B Yen
http://www.comet-track.com
Robert Lunsford wrote:
>
> Great question George! Green meteors are quite rare indeed (at least for
> me). I would estimate that only one out of 1000 meteors appear
> distinctly green to me. Most of these green meteors are in the brighter
> magnitudes of zero and brighter. Another interesting fact is that a
> majority of my green sightings occur within 30 degrees of the horizon
> meaning that I am looking through a thicker blanket of air when seeing
> them at this lower altitude.
>
> There are several observers that I know of who see a higher portion of
> green meteors. When I observed with Felix Martinez green was his
> dominate color (excluding white). George Zay was another who saw many
> green meteors. Now I would say that my color perception of meteors is
> fairly typical which means that most meteors need to be at least second
> magnitude before color can be perceived. Both of the observers mentioned
> above are experienced and well respected observers. It may just be that
> they are more sensitive to this color. There was one bright Perseid that
> George called green that sticks in my mind. It was early in the evening
> and was the first bright meteor of the session. Myself and another
> observer saw it as orange. Now for anyone knows the answer why we saw
> the perceived color difference then you are smarter than me :)
>
> I believe that I have heard (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that
> the green color is produced by the doubly ionized oxygen produced when
> larger particles encounter the atmosphere.
>
> Bob Lunsford
>
> "George W. Kelley, Jr." wrote:
> >
> > Each year in late winter when Orion and Cetus drift across the southern and
> > southwestern sky, I am reminded of the highly impressionable days of my
> > youth: One evening I watched a bright, greenish-white meteor lazily emerge
> > from the retreating twilight, to cross Cetus and Eridanus, then fade in
> > Orion. Not long before that I had read about the rarity of green meteors.
> > I do not recall the source of that information, nor do I recall ever
> > seeing another green one.
> >
> > Two decades later another reference to green meteors came to my attention,
> > in the work >The Immense Journey< (Vintage Books, NY, 1959) by
> > anthropologist and wordsmith Loren Eiseley:
> >
> > "Lights come and go in the night sky. Men, troubled at last by the things
> > they build, may toss in their sleep and dream bad dreams, or lie awake
> > while the meteors whisper greenly overhead."
> >
> > The lingering questions are, how rare are green meteors, and is their color
> > the result of their composition? Have you seen one or more?
> >
> > George Kelley
> >
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