A Twisted Meteor Trail Over Tenerife
Explanation:
Did this meteor take a twisting path?
No one is sure.
Considered opinions are solicited.
Meteors, usually sand sized grains that originate in comets, will typically
disintegrate as they enter the
Earth's atmosphere.
A fast moving meteor ionizes molecules in the
Earth's atmosphere that
subsequently glow when they reacquire
electrons.
Meteor paths that twist noticeably
have been
noted
before, and
even photographed, but attributing such behavior to the
motion of the meteor itself and neither the
wind-blown meteor train nor the observer remains somewhat
controversial.
The above meteor, imaged two weeks ago streaking over the
Teide Observatory in
Tenerife,
Canary Islands, appears
to swagger as much as several
minutes of arc,
which the experienced astrophotographer did not think could be attributed to drifting
of the
resulting train or
motion of the
camera mount.
If truly an indication of a
twisted meteor path,
an underlying reason could be the
pictured meteor was markedly non-spherical in shape, non-uniform in composition,
or
electrically charged.
Non-uniform
meteors, for example, may evaporate more on one side than another,
causing a
rotating meteor to wobble.
Understanding meteors is important partly because meteors
are candidates to have seeded
Earth with
prebiotic molecules
that allowed for the
development of life.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
