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

From: mafer <mafer_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:39 2004
Message-ID: <021001c33455$64665b40$6501a8c0_at_vs.shawcable.net>

Hi Steve and list

Not being familiar with aerodynamics and such, I can't speak with authority,
but can pose the question of that caused by the "wash" of the item traveling
through an atmosphere. If anyone has ever seen a rocket launched (the
smaller ones such as I worked with years ago, nike hercules), they often
have a convoluted and twisted trail simply from the speed at which they
travel through the atmosphere and the resulting remix of atmosphere behind
them (because of the displacement of air). This effect is often seen in wind
tunnel tests which is done on purpose using smoke to better see the tail
wash and turbulences cause at higher velocities.
Just a idea
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_yahoo.com>
To: Marco Langbroek <marco.langbroek_at_wanadoo.nl>; meteorite list
<meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 9:13 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Pasamonte ("corkscrewing" meteorites)


> Well then, if meteors cannot corkscrew what about
> those that appear to break off and change direction
> slightly in the lumionous phase?
>
> If they can do that, then corkscrewing caused by a
> flat surface spiraling in the same phase is not out of
> the question.
>
> I am certain that I read in some of the Nininger notes
> that the Pasamonte fireball did appear to "corkscrew"
> and it was not the train, but the fireball itself.
>
> Steve Schoner/AMS
>
>
>
> --- Marco Langbroek <marco.langbroek_at_wanadoo.nl>
> wrote:
> >
> > ----- 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
> >
>
>
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Received on Mon 16 Jun 2003 06:19:14 PM PDT