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Re: (meteorobs) New Member Peter Stinson & Request for Info...
In a message dated 99-06-18 09:51:28 EDT, you write:
lew<<
Second, if the event is seen to "hang in the sky" - i.e., travelling with an
angular velocity below a couple of degrees per second, but still lasting more
than a second or two - it is very likely not a meteor or an artificial
reentry.
It is POSSIBLE that an extremely foreshortened meteor path - particularly one
which leaves a persistent train - will appear this way. But very rarely.<<
It is also possible that a distant meteor that appears low on the horizon
seem to "hang in the sky". This wouldn't be the traditional "foreshortening"
where the meteor appears near the radiant. These would seem to mimic a flare
being fired some distance away.
lew>>Finally, there are other things making an event LESS likely to be a
meteor,
while not eliminating that possibility altogether: for example, an event
which
is seen with a high angular speed in the early evening is unlikely to be a
meteor or an artificial reentry (space junk enters the earth's atmosphere
travelling far slower than meteoroids do!) <<
But if it is the month of August and you see what looks like a relatively
fast, but long looking meteor in the early evening, suspect a perseid meteor.
Lew>>By the same token, an event with a
very LOW angular speed more than a couple of hours after midnight is less
likely
to be a meteor - although again, foreshortening can invalidate this "rule".
>>
If it's around the months of October/November and you see a Slow reddish
looking meteor a couple hours after midnight, suspect a Taurid meteor. Not
only would foreshortening produce slow looking fireballs that can mimic a
flare, but so can distant fireballs occuring near the horizon. At any meteor
speed, they can appear quite slow from this perspective. Remember that a
bright fireball meteor that occurs near a radiant, will travel further than a
dimmer non fireball meteor occuring from the same location.
George Zay
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