Unidentified object in the night sky

[MeteorWayne]

Well, not completely ridiculous.<br />There is a small cadre of dedicated meteor observers who plot meteors seen through a wide field scope.<br />Since you can see much fainter meteors it examines particles with a smaller mass. Meteor shower peaks at these sizes can be hours or days removed from the peak for visual meteors.<br /><br />You can count the folks in the world that do that on one hand.<br />I'm not one of them <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> It takes lots of practice.<br />I don't recommend it for most people.<br /><br />I was out for 3 1/4 hours last night under exceptionally clear skies for June.<br />Meteor activity was pretty good for this time of year, I probably plotted 7 per hour.<br /><br />Edit: after transcribing the data, it was actually 5.2 meteors per hour <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />MW <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

I heard today that Atlantis was trailing the ISS by ~100 miles.<br />I thought last night the first object was the ISS based on color and brightness. Maybe I was right after all? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Maybe so! I was going off Heavens Above predictions, but it's quite possible (especially given thruster firings and the like) that their margin of error is larger than the predicted difference in pass times. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[sally_wrench]

Hey MW !!!<br /><br />Yeah ... just about the time I clicked the "Continue" button to post my message, I realized I misspoke. Plus, I was in the middle of teaching a computer class, and I didn't have my full attention on what I was doing. If I'm not mistaken, my reference was to the star cluster known as the "Seven Sisters," right? <br /><br />Anyway, thanks for the info and the link ...<br /><br />Sally

 

[sally_wrench]

Thanks, Heyscottie !!! I just tried to send you a fairly lengthy reply, and when I tried to post, it said there were errors. Rather than doing all that again, let me just say I thought "Contact" was a good movie, too. I missed the significance of that scene myself. I figure it would be hard to track meteors with a telescope ...<br /><br />Also, if you aren't aware already ... and if you happen to be a movie buff ... check out imdb.com. It's the Internet Movie Database, and you can find out anything about any movie, or TV show for that matter, that's ever been made.<br /><br />Later, Sally