Author Topic: Shooting star or a meteorite  (Read 3634 times)

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Offline Axelvold

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Shooting star or a meteorite
« on: March 03, 2010, 03:35:28 PM »
I caught the following on my webcam yesterday, it was in direction South Southwest.



I'm not quite sure whether it was a shooting star or a meteorite.

And no, this is not a fake, several people that I know did see this as well
Lars Magnusson
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Offline Downlinerz2

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2010, 04:29:58 PM »
   It is not a meteorite.  A meteorite is a meteor or "shooting star" that has survived it's
passage thru the atmosphere.  Not sure if it is a meteorite.  Does not look like one.
No tail. Meteors have a tail that stretches behind the main object.  Maybe a plane or helicopter.

  ADDED:  I looked at this using high zoom and it is distincly 2 main objects.  They may be connected to each other but there appears to be a break between them.  Hmmmm
Wonder if it's a satellite.  It don't think it's the ISS due to the shape of the objects. 
« Last Edit: March 03, 2010, 04:38:22 PM by Downlinerz2 »

Offline Downlinerz2

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2010, 04:46:55 PM »
   It may be the ISS.  I cannot be sure of the track and time.  It appears that the ISS tracks south of you in the night. On it's current orbit,the ISS will be passing somewhere in the area to the south.  It would look like two objects as the pic shows if the orientation is right to show the 2 huge solar arrays.  You can go to:
     http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html

   If it is not a plane or helicopters I can only imagine it is the ISS.  It appears very bright when the solar arrays are in the right orientation.  Further reasearch needed.
Only a guess right now. ](*,)
CORRECTED
« Last Edit: March 03, 2010, 04:52:18 PM by Downlinerz2 »

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2010, 01:08:07 AM »
Note to self, repaint remote control spy plane with non-reflective paint!   :mrgreen:

I was making a practice run for when your weather warms and all the Swedish girls head for the beach.  ;)
Mark 
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Offline Downlinerz2

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2010, 01:28:37 AM »
   I suspected as much but I did not want to blow your cover :-# :-$  If I did that I would have to resign from CONTROL.  I would not like to give up my shoe-phone or my Cone of Silence.  :-( ](*,)
Note to self, repaint remote control spy plane with non-reflective paint!   :mrgreen:

I was making a practice run for when your weather warms and all the Swedish girls head for the beach.  ;)

Offline Cienega32

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2010, 03:54:54 AM »
I get stuff like that all the time. Of course, in my case, it's because of dirty double pane windows  :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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Offline chief-david

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2010, 06:01:38 PM »
another failed Russian Rocket?



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Offline W3DRM

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2010, 08:15:11 PM »
The two lighter areas of the image are of different brighness and color with the upper-left source being white and the lower-right source being orangish.

Could it possibily be just a single light source with the second, dimmer/off-white be a reflection through a glass lens or window?

Unfortunately, the resolution of the image isn't sufficient enough to establish that there are actually two light sources.

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Offline Downlinerz2

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Re: Shooting star or a meteorite
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2010, 08:54:11 PM »
  I agree that it is not possible to say with certainty that it is two distinct objects.  I don't know how long the exposure was on this photo.  If it is not a plane I don't think that there would be anything else that would look that bright.  If the exposure was very long the ISS would have shown a trail.  But I think the ISS is bright enough that it would show up like this image.  I am no expert by a long shot.  I have observed the ISS in telescopes and binoculars and cameras.  It is suprising how bright the ISS is now that all of the solar panels are in place.  The pictures below show ISS from ground!  Taken with a 25cm telescope and video camera.  The photographer tracked the ISS by hand using a finder scope on the telescope!! Very hard to do.  ADDED:  I think the ISS averages in brightness at -4.0.  That is brighter than Venus.  It is bright enough to show, but I am wraking my brain to find a way to prove it or disprove it.
  I think the only way to solve this is for Lars to find when the ISS is visible in the sky and see if he can get another image.  Or at least see if it is possible that camera could see the ISS.
    

« Last Edit: March 04, 2010, 08:57:06 PM by Downlinerz2 »

 

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