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Re: (meteorobs) trains and trails



I  would call such an event a "clustering" of meteors because that represents an unusual nearly simultaneous collection of meteoric particles in time and place, which is not normally expected from a random distribution.

In fact the particles are then connected, because they travel similar paths, and in that sense have a "radiant" even though they are not necessarily associated with a known shower. They may very well be parts of a larger object which broke up some time ago, but remain in close proximity due to absence of much perturbing forces.

You should try to note if the radiant and velocity match with any known showers, or if its a truly sporadic or "new" stream or isolated particle with radiant?

Mike

--- David Entwistle <david@d-entwistle.fsnet.codot uk> wrote:
> Hello group,
> 
> I have, on a number of occasions, seen several
> meteors which appear to
> be related - they follow the same path across the
> sky and a separated by
> no more than a few tens of seconds. 
> 
> I'm inclined to use the expression 'meteor train' to
> describe such an
> event, but understand this would be incorrect, as
> 'train' refers to the
> persistent luminous trail left after the meteor has
> passed.
> 
> What is the correct term for such an event?
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