[meteorite-list] Dumb Questions About Meteors & Meteorites

[Gary Fujihara]

Aloha Eric,

> I think it's the smoke left from the meteoroid as it cooled rapidly after incandescence, hence the reason for the tapering of the train.

No smoke train in this photo - it is too early for any to develop (see Chris' post)

> Also there is a certain "squiggly" nature to the trail suggesting an irregularly shaped object tumbling through the air. If it were still incandescent or in an oriented flight I would think the meteoroid would be flying a straighter path producing a "cleaner" trail. The irregular path, and tapering of the trail seems to me to suggest that the small thin trail is a smoke train and and not the meteoroid incandescence. Perhaps both?

Squiggly line is the last bit of material after ablation and just before dark flight, of a particle (from Comet Temple-Tuttle) tumbling through the air.  

> Was the meteoroid still "glowing" hot thereby producing a visible light bright enough to be picked up by the camera?

Yup.

gary

> 
> Eric
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 1/26/2010 8:13 AM, GeoZay at aol.com wrote:
>>>> Take a look at this Leonid photo. As you  can see after the incandescence
>>>>       
>> there's a small smoke train shooting out  from the tip of the meteor. Is
>> that in fact the smoke train from the  particle/meteoroid just before
>> entering dark flight? Or was this just the  last bit of the meteoroid
>> burning up?<<
>> 
>> I'd say it was just the  last bit of the meteoroid burning up.  It was
>> dimming and the camera caught  what little exposure it could at that point.
>> GeoZay
>> 
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Gary Fujihara
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