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Re: (meteorobs) Telescopic observation of meteor trails
At 03:16 PM 12/21/99 -1000, you wrote:
>Nick Martin wrote:
>> I have seen a few meteors as they accidentally cross the field of view of my
>>
>> meteor. The trails were orange in colour and seemed to puff outward as
>> though a sausage skin was being inflated by luminous gas. The time
>> resolution of the eye is of course limited but the impression was of fast
>> but visible expansion to a definite diameter (hence the sausage skin
>> analogy).
>
>Are we talking trails or trains? I can't say that I recall trails
>puffing as the telescopic meteors are so fast. OTOH the majority of
>trains do expand and appear as hollow shells. The telescopic trains
>look grey to me. Could the colour be from low-pressure-sodium light
>pollution? The drift from the trail is quite noticeable too. More
>rarely some trains sparkle or are grainy, and even more unusual are
>patterned ones, presumably from a flattened meteoroid.
>
>Malcolm
Malcolm,
I don't think the colour would come from stray sodium light as otherwise
nebulae would also show an orange cast. As for trains and trails, I think I
mean trails as they originated behind the meteor but I stand to be corrected.,.
Nick
Nick Martin, Bonnyton House, By Ayr, Ayrshire KA6 7EW ,Scotland, UK.
Latitude 55 24'56" Longtitude 4 26' 00".
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