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Re: (meteorobs) The Existence Of Super-Fast Meteors
We can do some rough estimates based on the data you show. If a meteor moved
five degrees in one frame, that's an angular velocity of 150 degrees per
second. Assume that it was at an altitude of 100 km and on your zenith; that
would imply a linear velocity (assuming it was a grazer) of about 250
km/sec. Of course, if it wasn't grazing, it could be going a lot slower. But
a 250 km/sec velocity is way above parabolic velocity -- no way is this
thing in orbit around the sun. That in turn implies that we cannot assume
any kind of association with any other meteors. In other words, these
meteors should not show any commonalities; they should go in random
directions. They should also have random attack angles, show up any time of
the year. With these high entry velocities, they're must less massive than
regular meteors. All in all, I'm skeptical that we're seeing meteors here;
if these observations were explainable as tiny objects hitting the
atmosphere, we'd expect to see all sorts of variations. But it certainly is
a mystery.
Chris
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