[meteorite-list] Possible Bolide Over Lebanon, Cyprus and Turkey 7JUN2012

[MstrEman]

Good call George.  The trail has been tentatively linked to a Russian
ICBM-class missile launched from southeast Russia.  I don't remember
if this was a reliability test or a scientific package.  A commentator
elsewhere suggested this was spewing fuel from a tumbling booster.
The pattern is similar to other trails where high level winds aloft
are disbursing the exhaust unevenly.  I believe we have a photo(s) of
a meteor trail which shows an apparent zig-zaging pattern.

To the ground observer, it may look like a constant altitude but the
trail is being laid down as the rocket is passing through several
flight levels where winds can be moving laterally at different speeds
but in an overall general direction.

Elton