[meteorite-list] Pasamonte ("corkscrewing" meteorites)

From: Marco Langbroek <marco.langbroek_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:39 2004
Message-ID: <003501c33416$17581800$8b244451_at_HAL>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Schoner" <steve_schoner_at_yahoo.com>


> I think that a person took a famous photo of the
> Pasamonte fireball as it was happening with a camera.
> According to him, and Nininger who reported it, it
> corkscrewed in flight.
>
> Steve Schoner/AMS

Hi Steve and others,

I am not convinced by the Pasamonte photograph, as it is pertinent to know
how this photograph came about. At first, it is likely that this photograph
does not show the Pasamonte fireball as is assumed, but rather the extremely
bright persistent train it left. This was argued in 1950 by C.C. Wylie in
Pop. Astronomy, for good reasons.

The photograph was taken by a ranch foreman. He was inside the house when
allerted by a bright flash outside. He picked up his camera, went outside to
a spot with clear view, and took the picture. He actually opened the shutter
while still walking.

I want to point out:

1. That it is clear that this thus is a picture that was not taken from a
steady tripod, but with a handheld moving camera with the shutter opened
while the camera was moved. Hence, the corkscrew appearance in the picture
is at least partly, if not whole, an artifact of the camera movement while
the exposure was made;

2. Given the sequence related, it is likely that it pictures the bright
persistent train rather than the fireball itself.

- Marco Langbroek / Dutch Meteor Society
Received on Mon 16 Jun 2003 10:46:30 AM PDT