Was this a meteor? 24th May 2015

[DrRobin]

Hi,

Taken by my night sky camera on 24/05/15 @ 23:30 (BST) with my night sky camera.  This is a 32 second exposure taken at 23:30 BST and seems to show a meteor dipping below the clouds in the south and heading towards the north, north east.  My location is just west of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The camera takes a 32 second image every 5 minutes and there is nothing on the images taken at 23:25 or 23:35.

Robin

[jambouk]

It's a shame there are no images immediately prior to after this one. Is that LP to the east?

It's a trail of something for sure beneath the cloud. One end is quite sharply demarcated and this may just represent the end of the exposure, in which case it was travelling south to north east. It also has a pretty consistent brightness along its significant path. I know nothing about meteors but I think it is unlikely to be one, but will be interested to follow what others say.

You should report the data to the BAA Meteor Section.

James

[Paul M]

Not sure if it's an artifact or real but the trail looks pixelated to me, which implies it might have been a modulated light source. A bit too rapid for aircraft strobe lights.

Too steady to be a meteor and seems to illuminate the clouds only very locally as it passes through them. It also fades smoothly with distance. 

My guess is a plane. Guessing even further it might have been the tail light of TCX 6122 which departed Newcastle at 23:28 heading generally SW as it climbed out.

Not very consistent with the lights from a plane going away from the observer, more like landing lights.

Hmm.. actually it's only the timing that fits...

[philhas]

That trail follows the typical landing approach for Newcastle Airport which is South West to North East South of the river out to the mouth of the Tyne.

[DrRobin]

It's a shame there are no images immediately prior to after this one. Is that LP to the east?

It's a trail of something for sure beneath the cloud. One end is quite sharply demarcated and this may just represent the end of the exposure, in which case it was travelling south to north east. It also has a pretty consistent brightness along its significant path. I know nothing about meteors but I think it is unlikely to be one, but will be interested to follow what others say.

You should report the data to the BAA Meteor Section.

James

The LP to the east is the lights of Newcastle/Gateshead.  The end that is demarcated is either at the start or the end of the 32 second capture.  The other end is marked by the object going in to or out of the cloud. 

Not sure if it's an artifact or real but the trail looks pixelated to me, which implies it might have been a modulated light source. A bit too rapid for aircraft strobe lights.

Too steady to be a meteor and seems to illuminate the clouds only very locally as it passes through them. It also fades smoothly with distance. 

My guess is a plane. Guessing even further it might have been the tail light of TCX 6122 which departed Newcastle at 23:28 heading generally SW as it climbed out.

Not very consistent with the lights from a plane going away from the observer, more like landing lights.

Hmm.. actually it's only the timing that fits...

It could well be TCX6122.  I am to the west of Newcastle airport, so I would see it start in the NE and head towards the south.  The aircraft usually turn somewhere overhead, but it may have made a slightly earlier turn.  I didn't spot it earlier on FlightRadar24 as I hadn't spotted that Flight Radar24 is in UTC, not BST, so I was looking an hour too late.

It is a colour cam, so surprised that it didn't show up as a different colour?

That trail follows the typical landing approach for Newcastle Airport which is South West to North East South of the river out to the mouth of the Tyne.

Landing aircraft pass to the north of my house, so I see them start in the NW and go round to the NE.  I am about 5 miles from the airport so they are on a short final by the time they go past.

Robin

[philhas]

Where do you live Robin? I am in Whitley Bay, I have had similar looking tracks on my cam and its always planes. I would add that a lot of planes don't show up on flightradar24 so its hard to eliminate them