Can you hear a meteor?

[Joguj]

Tonight I had a wander outside before bed and had a glorious view of a (very very fast) meteor from the NE almost across the whole sky. Duration must have been half second or less but very bright. It was fairly quiet at the time and I'm pretty certain I heard a noise simultaneous with the view, best description I can say is it was a mid range frequency 'whoosh'. Quite bizarre and goes against my understandings of light/sound speeds but I'm sure it was real. I can only think it had come pretty low through the atmosphere?

Either that or I'm finally losing it!

[Scott]

next time you hear a meteor.....DUCK.

Sorry, I've got no idea. my guess would be that you heard a similtaneous noise but i could be completely off the mark

Scott

ps. please don't think i'm taking the mick. its just my warped sence of humor.

[Lorne]

I've never heard one personally but Ive spoke to someone who said they had heard one, and I'm sure there was a thread on this site from someone posting they had heard a meteor in the past. Ususally the only noise I hear is..... WOW!!! from me or mates out viewing too

[badgerchap]

I heard a perseid either last year or the year before. It was certainly the brightest meteor I've ever seen by quite some margin, and the sound was very fast and very faint, but I am certain (within a certain margin oof error por posterity) that the sound originated from the meteor. I'm not sure if you have ever heard this, but imagine the sound made as burning plastic drips through the air, a kind of 'zipping' sound. The Perseid made a sound similar to this, but of a higher pitch aand with a higher frequency 'zipping'.

[Stargazing_Cliff]

you could allways put on radio on hiss noise and when meteor passes it fm meteor scatters so in way you can listen to meteor how it effects radio signals and run some software like speclab /fm meteor scatter software.

Example of meteor scatter my radio picked up 14th august 2012

http://cliffraves.hourb.com/skycam2/scatter/meteoraugust14th2012.mp3

and speclab produces images of scatter

I would say yes you can listen to meteor frequency's.

[alan potts]

I am sure I have in the past when walking on the Moors, sounds spookie.

Alan

[chiltonstar]

I heard a very bright horizon-to-horizon meteor a few years ago - like a hiss and a crackle combined. I posted it here somewhat sceptically and was assured that is a common experience.

Does anyone with more expertise have any idea of the mechanism?

Chris

[lukebl]

But surely, even if the meteor did make a sound, the fact that it is likely to be at an altitude of 40 miles or so means that the sound would take a minute or two to reach you, so the sound couldn't be simultaneous with the light. 

[Cath]

Did hearing the sound coincide with actually seeing the meteor cross the sky?

Assuming the average speed of sound through the Earth's atmosphere is around 300M/s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound), which is around 670mph, and assuming the Meteor reached as low as say 45 miles from the ground, then it would take at least 240 seconds for the sound to reach you.

That means their would be a delay of 4 minutes between the Meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere and yourself being able to hear it.

I have no idea how far from the ground Meteors tend to reach though.

[Joguj]

I was of the same thought as you as to how sound could travel at such a speed, doubting myself almost but I'm quite convinced of what I heard. Try here for some theory

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast26nov_1

I've heard the sound of burning plastic drips as mentioned in previous post but mine seemed a little lower frequency than that. Perhaps the environment, angle & direction of the meteor would change the sound? I don't know to be honest but it was a nice experience thats for sure.

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[Cath]

Try here for some theory http://science.nasa....2001/ast26nov_1

They are not saying it's a direct sound you can hear, they are saying the VLF RF emitted from the Meteor passing through the atmosphere is somehow being demodulated by something physically local to you (pair of glasses etc) which is what could be creating the noise you hear (converting the VLF RF to audio sound waves).

[Joguj]

I realise that. When I say 'heard' a meteor, all I mean is that it was simultaneous sight/sound. The way in which the sound was propagated to my ears is subject to discussion but the theorys I've read are interesting. I've found another paper which I'll post.

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[Joguj]

A lot of reading here for anyone that's interested.

meteor.pdf

[Cath]

I guess your answering your own question then Joguj

[The Sailor]

Yes you can hear a meteor, just before it smacks you one!!!

Jim

[DirkSteele]

A lot of reading here for anyone that's interested.

I once heard something at the time of witnessing a fireball but was unable to reconcile how the sound arrived at the same time as the light. Very interesting paper. Thanks for posting.

[Joguj]

I guess your answering your own question then Joguj

I suppose I am now. When I made the original post I had no idea that it was even possible or if my ageing ears/brain was playing around with me!

Now I've read more, i feel more confident about the whole thing though and also quite lucky to have had the experience.

Should of kept my mouth shut at work however, I've just branded myself a fool! Ah well...

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[sologuitarist61]

I know when the giant fireball was reported over America and see by thousands at a football match, that a sound was reported to have been heard. Now that was bigger than most meteorites but I guess that it is still possible, in the right conditions, to hear them. There was a thread on here the other day (sorry cannot remember what it was called) that a chap was watching for meteorites with his dog and that his dog was paying particular attention to the sky as if hearing something.

[Daniel-K]

i was talking about this with a member from my society a few months back apparently sir Patrick said you can there called earth grazers dont know how true it is but it would be cool

[Mr Q]

But surely, even if the meteor did make a sound, the fact that it is likely to be at an altitude of 40 miles or so means that the sound would take a minute or two to reach you, so the sound couldn't be simultaneous with the light.

I agree. There is a growing belief in the scientific community that the sounds reported during a meteor sighting (mostly brilliant fireballs or "bolides") are an auditory illusion. When we see a brilliant fireball crossing the sky, our brains add the (real time) audio we expect to hear with such a sight. So, in a sense, some people do hear a meteor but it is only an illusion on their part. There have been some reports of sonic booms after a meteor (bolide) "explodes", which coincides with the time the shock wave reaches us on the ground but "hissing" or other real time sounds are just an illusion...but the jury is still not out yet on this strange phenomena.

Of course, if a meteor does reach the ground close to an observer hearing it (by then it will have cooled and not be visible except during the day), that would be the "wind" noise as it passes by and the possible thud as it hits the ground but to my knowledge, no one has ever witnessed such an event while it happened - most are after the fact reports.

[sologuitarist61]

I agree. There is a growing belief in the scientific community that the sounds reported during a meteor sighting (mostly brilliant fireballs or "bolides") are an auditory illusion.

The same scientific community that takes part in astro programmes, on Discovery Channel, that has asteroids 'whoosing' through space, and supernovae rumbling like thunder? :grin:

[Mr Q]

Sorry, those science programs are for the unimformed and cater to those with very little or no basic science education. Though they appear to be educational, they are offered to make money with little regard to researching their program content. I have given up watching those programs many years ago due to the psudo-science content. The last one I watched was "Cosmos" - simple explanations about the universe but still educational. Todays programs have a long way to go to catch up to series like Cosmos as far as educational value is concerned

[sologuitarist61]

Sorry, those science programs are for the unimformed and cater to those with very little or no basic science education.

HOW DARE YOU !!!!!! (I watch those :grin: :grin:) Did you hear that, all you Brian Cox fans?

[The Sailor]

Who?

Jim

[Mr Q]

HOW DARE YOU !!!!!! (I watch those :grin: :grin:) Did you hear that, all you Brian Cox fans?

Don't know about that guy's program because I never saw it. Lots of people on the SGL say it's a good show but how scientifically correct is it? Haven't got a clue