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(meteorobs) Re: Nebulous, different from diffuse meteors?
At 12:18 PM 12/20/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Folks, just as a follow-up, BOTH nebulous meteors and "wiggly" meteors - and
>o Nebulous meteors - which may be seen several times a year - are probably seen
>through thin, otherwise unnoticeable cloud layers. But note that during the
1998
>Leonid peak (the "fireball shower" of 1998), I saw something quite different
>which also fits Jure's description of "a clear central condensation and a coma
>or an outer envelope of some sort". Several fireballs during that incredible
>night were NOT nebulous - they had distinct, sharp edges. Yet the heads of
these
>meteors displayed clear comae (sometimes "annular", with central darker areas),
>surrounding a more intense, "meteor-like" inner head. This shower was seen
>through mostly cloudy conditions for me, however - so maybe the traditional
>explanation still applies to my "different" nebulous meteors?
This sounds like it could be a diffraction ring, caused by light scattered
by the cloud, around the bright head. Looking at street lights through a
misted window shows similar rings.
Such objects are very different from the two diffuse objects I have reported
which lacked the bright centre and were of uniform brightness. The red
Geminid showed a very different colour from other Geminids again not
explicable in terms of diffusion by cloud. The other had a greenish colour
but this is not as distinctive with a relatively dim object. However the
stars along the meteors path were quite clear, sharp and undimmed.
Nick Martin, Bonnyton House, By Ayr, Ayrshire KA6 7EW ,Scotland, UK.
Latitude 55 24'56" Longtitude 4 26' 00".
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