[meteorite-list] Smoke Trail

[Sterling K. Webb]

Hi,

    Although I can't pinpoint the date, there was
a set of photos (interval-timed) from Australia
of Sydney (?) harbor. One frame showed what
appeared to be a streak from the sky striking a
lamp post on a pier. Was it a meteorite? (The
lamp was blown up.)
    One of the astronomical forums hosted a huge
discussion of the photo, analysis, frame differences,
blah, blah.  Some thought it was a photo of a bug
close to the camera, some thought ball lightening,
some thought the "trail" was the shadow of a
contrail (the photo was taken at twilight sunset),
and the guy that suggested this posted a number
of photos of the shadows of contrails. I didn't
think this photo in question was explained as a
contrail shadow (calculated the sun angle and the
"shadow" angle was different).
    But there is no doubt that there IS such a thing
as a shadow from a contrail. When I Google
"contrail shadow" I get lots and lots of stuff:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=contrail+shadow
    Even better, Google Images for "contrail shadow":
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=contrail%20shadow&sa=N&tab=wi
    Are any of these resemble what you saw, George?
    And, yes, a fireball trail could produce a
"fireball shadow," I suppose. It's just that fireballs
are a lot rarer than jets! Even a 737 or 747 is hardly
visible as an object at eight miles high (12 miles
away at an angle); military jets are even smaller
(and higher and faster).

Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Groetz" <mpg444 at yahoo.com>
To: "G. Nicula" <treasurehunter at chartermi.net>; 
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 6:31 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Smoke Trail


> George and list-
>   It is interesting this is brought up; I have seen
> the same thing. I always thought it to be an optical
> illusion of some sort (like a reflection adjacent to
> the contrail) in the atmosphere but now George has me
> wondering also.
>   Hope someone on the list has some good information
> covering this.
>   Unless George and I are both goofy and seeing the
> same things..
> Mike
>
>
> --- "G. Nicula" <treasurehunter at chartermi.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> A couple of weeks ago I saw something in the sky
>> that I recalled seeing once ten years or so ago.  A
>> white streak, not unlike that of a passing jet, with
>> a shadow of some sort beneath it.  This time the
>> white streak appeared to be heading down to earth at
>> an angle considered foolish for any jet.  The
>> blackish shadow was a mere copy of the white streak,
>> but below it.  When I saw this many years ago, I
>> thought of it as some kind of shadow cast onto
>> something in the air that I couldn't see.  But this
>> time the angle caused me to think that I may have
>> just missed the opportunity to view a daytime
>> fireball.  Thinking back, I now remember that the
>> first time I had seen this there were several
>> streaks of this nature.  Something I recently read
>> about dust has piqued my curiosity.
>>
>> Any comments?
>>
>> George Nicula>
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