Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] Sky falling in on Kodachrome

Subject: Re: [OM] Sky falling in on Kodachrome
From: "Peter Klein" <pklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 12:00:06 -0800
Cc: pklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have an alternate theory:  What Joel saw was the remains of a rocket or
satellite (probably Russian) re-entering the atmosphere as its orbit
decayed.  I have actually seen one of these re-entries myself, and
confirmed the identity of the object with a satellite tracking program I
use for amateur radio. Russian satellites and the International Space
Station (supplied by Russian rockets) are all in "high inclination" orbits
that can appear high in the sky from the northern U.S.

I think that the fact that the two photos were taken about a minute apart
pretty much eliminates a meteor, because most meteors travel *very*
fast--the show is over in a few seconds. In contrast, an object
re-entering from low earth orbit can put on a show for several minutes.
The rocket re-entry I saw included both reddish and pinkish-white objects
that scattered as the rocket broke up.

My sighting was a little later in the evening than Joel's, so I saw lots
of reddish "sparkles" coming off the larger objects which Joel's
still-bright sky may have obscured.

--Peter

> From: Ken Norton (kenzone-10.com)
> Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 07:37:25 -0800 (PST)

> It's bright because the jet is at a higher altitude and the ice
> crystals in the contrail are probably at about the 22 degree point.

> A contrail will appear and disappear as a jet flies through those
> whispy, really thing, almost invisible cirrus clouds.

> If I knew the exact date, we could pull up weather charts.

> AG

> --
> Ken Norton
> ken [at] zone-10.com
> http://www.zone-10.com



-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz