[meteorite-list] (Meteorite)Astro Mike's Meteor Photo

From: GeoZay at aol.com <GeoZay_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:17:55 EDT
Message-ID: <c26.5ffd5b29.378c8e03_at_aol.com>

I'm still pondering whether this image is that of a meteor or not? Besides
questioning the lack of a hint of the "meteors" ionized column afterglow
for a case against the image being a meteor, I got to thinking about the
width of the "meteor" itself in the image. That is the ionized column or trail
of the meteor. The ionized column is produced from both the disintegrating
meteoroid and "the shock and awe" to the atmospheric atoms and molecules.
The faster and larger the meteoroid, the wider the ionized column. I
understand that we are talking about a fireball here. So I'm thinking it should
be big. I think JKelly Beatty came up with a likely dimension estimate for
the meteor trail, but I no longer have that message to refer to. So I'm just
tossing up something that may or may not support his or my case. I've read
somewhere in the past that the width of the ionized column of a meteor,
with a meteoroid the size of a grain of sand is typically in the neighborhood
of about a yard or two. Also the width of the ionized column for a rocky
meteoroid of a foot in diameter, should be somewhere in the neighborhood of a
couple hundred feet. I'm curious as to what the width of the trail is in
this image, if the object was about 45 miles above the earth? Unfortunately
I don't possess the math skills to figure this out for myself, but I know
some of you out there do. If the answer is considerably less than about 200
feet, I remain even more against the notion that the image is that of a
meteor.

As for in this detailed photo, it really bugs me to not see a hint of a
twisting afterglow of the ionized column...or am I not picking something up
here?
GeoZay

**************Looking for love this summer? Find it now on AOL Personals.
(http://personals.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntuslove00000003)
Received on Mon 13 Jul 2009 09:17:55 AM PDT