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Re: (meteorobs) Electrophonics -- anywhere, anytime
>In fact, it seems to me like there would already be literature on
>weird sizzles that people hear quite regularly but can't explain.
Kim, this is a good example of "fighting fire with fire": That is,
countering an argument from anecdotal evidence, with an anecdotal
objection... :) In point of fact, keep in mind that even those of
us who have heard simultaneous sounds, very frequently do NOT hear
them when fireballs occur: If you'll remember, earlier on in this
particular thread, I mentioned that I had seen 3900 meteors from
Xinglong China on 18/19 Nov 2001 - and among these, 74 fireballs,
and 208 meteors brighter than mag 0, as it turns out! In fact, I
looged 9 meteors of magnitude -7 or brighter - and that was JUST
the meteors that I myself could assign a magnitude estimate to: I
was astrounded at the number of bright fireballs that night that
I did NOT see well enough to assign a magnitude! And yet, during
that entire night, I can't report hearing ONE simultaneous sound.
So clearly, any explanation which required EVERY meteor above a
certain magnitude (even a very BRIGHT magnitude) to produce some
audible sound, could readily and quickly be discounted! In other
words, whichever hypothesis is offered to explain simultaneous
meteor sounds (and psychoperceptual explanations certainly have
to be considered among these competing hypotheses), also has to
explain the INFREQUENCY with which these sounds are reported.
Clear skies and quiet observing fields. ;>
Lew
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