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(meteorobs) New Member Peter Stinson & Request for Info...
I've been lurking for a couple of weeks... and now that Lew has asked for
introductions:
I work for the U.S. Coast Guard as a search and rescue controller at the
Rescue Coordination Center in Norfolk, Virginia. I joined the list
primarily because I thought that it might help us at the RCC resolve "flare"
sightings... as you may know, a red or orange flare is an international
symbol of distress in the maritime community. Often mariners, or people on
shore, will report seeing a flare which we suspect might be a meteor... we
pump the reporting source for information and then have to send assets to
search. We spend thousands of dollars and hours searching for the flare
source, often finding nothing... I was hoping that information from the
list might help us correlate "flare" sightings with known meteors...
So far, I'm more confused than I was before I joined the list (ignorance is
bliss... before I didn't know what I didn't know... now I know that I don't
know... if that makes sense)... So, I'll continue to lurk and hope that it
all starts to click...
**The request for information: If anyone has any thoughts on how to help us
discern natural occuring events from flares, I'm all ears... you can email
me directly, if you prefer to mailto:pstinson@mlca.uscg.mil...
So that you know, the kind of info we currently try to get from the
reporting source is:
-- position of R/S (lat/long or geographic reference)
-- height of eye of the R/S
-- bearing of sighting (degrees true)
-- color of flare (distress is red or orange... sometimes white flares are
used also... other colors are not recognized as distress signals)
-- number of degrees above the horizen for highest point flare seen... we
use the "fist" method... outstretch your arm in front of you and make a
fist... how many fists (or knuckles of one fist) above the horizen did the
flare go...
-- was the flare seen to rise, rise & fall, fall, or burn steady in the sky
We then take this information and input it in to a computer program which
gives us the probable location to search for the flare source... then we
search. and search. and search.
A couple of weeks ago (and, no, I don't remember the date) we had a flare
sighting off the coast of Barnegat, New Jersey... around the same time there
was a flare sighting off Wilmington, North Carolina... no sources were found
from either flare, although we searched with aircraft and surface on both
sightings... my suspicion in the morning was that our reporting sources
actually saw meteors... or fireballs (new term for me... before joining the
list, I'd ever even heard of a fireball)... it was that night that I found
the list's website and joined the list...
Any pointers would be a great help. Thanks.
Regards.
Altus tendo,
Peter (s)
Peter A. Stinson, Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Multi-Mission Controller,
Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk and
USCG Atlantic Area/Fifth District Command Center
for the Western Atlantic Search & Rescue Coordinator
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lew Gramer [SMTP:dedalus@latrade.com]
>
> Thank you very much for the self-introduction, Alexandr! You beat me to
> it,
> as I was about to send out a message to our newer subscribers asking them
> to post just such self-introductions once they felt comfortable. :)
>
> Lew Gramer <owner-meteorobs@jovian.com>
>
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