[meteorite-list] A Twisted Meteor Trail Over Tenerife: camera bump

From: Elizabeth Warner <warnerem_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:09:09 -0400
Message-ID: <4C082805.1010603_at_astro.umd.edu>

As someone who has taken lots of astrophotos, mostly using a tripod and
having several hundred pictures ruined because of bumping the tripod or
camera shake from the mirror flapping up, those squiggles are not from
either of those.

If the camera had shaken, the buildings and everything else would also
exhibit that and they don't. The stars are slightly trailed (because he
is not tracking on the stars!! That's why they appear as dashes) as well
as having some coma (the orientation of which changes in different parts
of the picture as that should).

Camera shake will affect everything in the image and I'm just not seeing
those signs that would scream "camera shake!"


Clear Skies!
Elizabeth

Murray Paulson wrote:
> Hi:
>
> Note the second meteor trail is also wiggly. And as Robert noted it is
> in the same axix as the "trailing" of the stars, This must have been
> high frequency vibration to produce that many periods on the train.
>
> Murray
>
> On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Matson, Robert D.
> <ROBERT.D.MATSON at saic.com> wrote:
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>>> A Twisted Meteor Trail Over Tenerife
>>> Astronomy Picture of the Day, June 2, 2010
>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100602.html
>>
>>> "Did this meteor take a twisting path? No one is sure. Considered
>> opinions are solicited."
>>
>>> APOD: A Twisted Meteor Trail Over Tenerife (2010 Jun 02)
>>> http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19638
>>>
>> http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19638&sid=651816
>> 506a79643b02a83499866b4cdb&start=25
>>
>> There is no doubt that this wiggle was due to a camera bump during the
>> 1-minute
>> exposure. A meteor at low elevation angle means it was fairly distant --
>> at least
>> 300 km. The amplitude of the sinuoidal motion is so great that no
>> meteoroid of
>> *any* shape, no matter how bizarre, could move in this fashion. For
>> those still
>> in doubt, look at the stars in the zoomed insert: they, too, are
>> blurred, with
>> a long axis that is consistent with the direction of the meteor
>> oscillations.
>>
>> --Rob
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Received on Thu 03 Jun 2010 06:09:09 PM PDT