Plane or meteoroid?
Sep 15, 2015, 1:07 am
#1
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Plane or meteoroid?
Not a TR worthy pic but I was up early this am and decided to take some shots of sunrise coming up on Lake Michigan. Caught my eye on couple of these far in the distance. Are these planes or meteoroid?
http://tinypic.com/r/30dgnc5/8
Zoomed-in image
http://tinypic.com/r/9pyiwk/8
http://tinypic.com/r/30dgnc5/8
Zoomed-in image
http://tinypic.com/r/9pyiwk/8
Sep 15, 2015, 5:41 am
#2
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Nice shot. Looks like you caught a meteor or maybe some space junk entering the atmosphere. Planes make a very distinctive streak in long exposures due to their flashing lights. Plus if a plane looked like that second image everyone on board would be having a very bad day.
Sep 15, 2015, 10:12 am
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What was the shutter speed ? They move at drastically different speeds (25,000-100,000mph vs. 600mph) so that should answer the question easily.
Sep 16, 2015, 8:53 pm
#5
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That is most definitely NOT a meteor. I've shot a lot of meteors and meteor showers and they do not look like that at all. For starters, they appears as a streak with tapered ends. Yours appear more like a comet-like kind of deal.
Also, from what I could tell you're taking it during the twilight, that means whatever that thing is, it's reflecting off the sunlight. Meteors don't do that. Meteor contrails might, but then it would look nothing like this.
Also, from what I could tell you're taking it during the twilight, that means whatever that thing is, it's reflecting off the sunlight. Meteors don't do that. Meteor contrails might, but then it would look nothing like this.
Sep 17, 2015, 1:32 am
#6
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The shot was taken at: 1/1250s , ISO 800.
It was few mins before the sunrise so the distinct glow was quite visible. There were couple of these streaks and at quite awkward angles and were visible for several seconds.
I am not an expert spatial objects so I didn't mean to categorize this as a meteor. My essential question was: unidentified object from space or a man-made aircraft?
It was few mins before the sunrise so the distinct glow was quite visible. There were couple of these streaks and at quite awkward angles and were visible for several seconds.
I am not an expert spatial objects so I didn't mean to categorize this as a meteor. My essential question was: unidentified object from space or a man-made aircraft?
Sep 17, 2015, 10:45 am
#8
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At that shutter speed, an airplane moving 600mph would move about less than an inch. A meteor could move a few hundred feet.
Did you only see it in the images later, or did you see it live? It could be a contrail behind a plane, if it persisted for a little while. But if was a brief flash, then I'd say a meteor, or maybe an Iridium flare (moving at 17,000mph).
You could check heavens-above.com for your location/time and see if a flare was occurring. They last for several seconds and can be as bright as -8 magnitude.
The fact that there was more than one makes me doubt aircraft or Iridium, so I'll go with meteor (which was a meteoroid and may or may not have become a meteorite)
Did you only see it in the images later, or did you see it live? It could be a contrail behind a plane, if it persisted for a little while. But if was a brief flash, then I'd say a meteor, or maybe an Iridium flare (moving at 17,000mph).
You could check heavens-above.com for your location/time and see if a flare was occurring. They last for several seconds and can be as bright as -8 magnitude.
The fact that there was more than one makes me doubt aircraft or Iridium, so I'll go with meteor (which was a meteoroid and may or may not have become a meteorite)
Sep 19, 2015, 10:28 am
#9
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Just read your post again and realized this sentence. This would imply that you see it with your eyes, then lift up a camera and shoot the picture. If that is the case then it cannot be meteors as most meteors would disappear within seconds before you have time to lift up your camera.
Also, as I've pointed out above, this looks nothing like a meteor streak.
I don't mean to be rude or anything, but if you've ever shot real meteors before you wouldn't say that this is one.
Also, as I've pointed out above, this looks nothing like a meteor streak.
I don't mean to be rude or anything, but if you've ever shot real meteors before you wouldn't say that this is one.
Sep 19, 2015, 11:28 pm
#10
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It's not an airplane that's for sure because you'd see the plane. If it was a back lit contrail again you'd see the plane in front of it. Larger meteors can break up on entry and burn for several seconds or longer depending on their size (there are videos on Youtube of them streaking across the sky). If it wasn't a meteor it was likely space junk reentering. I doubt it was an iridium flare because while they are quite bright you won't see several of them at once.
Sep 21, 2015, 9:26 am
#11
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Just read your post again and realized this sentence. This would imply that you see it with your eyes, then lift up a camera and shoot the picture. If that is the case then it cannot be meteors as most meteors would disappear within seconds before you have time to lift up your camera.
Also, as I've pointed out above, this looks nothing like a meteor streak.
I don't mean to be rude or anything, but if you've ever shot real meteors before you wouldn't say that this is one.
Also, as I've pointed out above, this looks nothing like a meteor streak.
I don't mean to be rude or anything, but if you've ever shot real meteors before you wouldn't say that this is one.
Sep 24, 2015, 7:24 am
#14
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It looks just like a plane contrails to me. meteor flash wouldn't last more than a few seconds. meteor contrails starts breaking up pretty much seconds after the flash happened. Plane contrails, however, can last quite a while and if it's far up enough you might not see the plane.
Oct 14, 2015, 2:07 am
#15
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it's not a easy one :
- it's not the ISS. The shutter speed is way to short. Here is what I shot a couple of years back (shutter speed 30s) : https://goo.gl/photos/765EgsxKCxzqTzLj9
- it doesn't look at all like an iridium satellite flare.
I would go with meteor as well.
Martin
- it's not the ISS. The shutter speed is way to short. Here is what I shot a couple of years back (shutter speed 30s) : https://goo.gl/photos/765EgsxKCxzqTzLj9
- it doesn't look at all like an iridium satellite flare.
I would go with meteor as well.
Martin