ABGD Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 (edited) I took this picture in Wales on 13/8/2024 - and when I looked closely it seemed that it showed a double meteor... Or does it? At some point around the time the picture was taken, I saw a bright meteor and said to my partner, 'that looked almost as if it were a double-streak, didn't it'. She agreed. Initially I didn't think that I'd caught it as the shutter clicked closed almost exactly the same time that we saw it. However, when you look closely at the cropped picture, I get the impression that there may be some form of periodic light visible between the two streaks. However, all the aircraft that I captured had very distinctive coloured patterns created by their navigation lights, and didn't look anything like this at all. Are double meteors a recognised phenomenon? I can imagine that if a meteor broke apart you might expect to see parallel streaks. If this isn't a double meteor, then what is it? Edited August 16 by ABGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomatobro Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 The series of regular dots between the two trails gives the game away. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy D Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 It is most definitely an aircraft. The regular, repeating lights between the two trails confirm that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apaulo Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 Definately not an aeroplane, at culloden observatory in inverness, several members saw this from that location. Its not possible to see a plane over inverness from wales. 1 of our members managed to get a shot of the target with his iphone. His shot dosnt have long star trails but just very short trailing of the target, obviously because of shutter speed etc. If i can get a copy i will post it on here . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dweller25 Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 33 minutes ago, apaulo said: His shot dosnt have long star trails but just very short trailing of the target, obviously because of shutter speed etc. If i can get a copy i will post it on here . That sounds like plane lights too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon Brush Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 What sort of transit time was the satellite/meteor/plane/ET? Yes leaving all options open😁 Meteors tend to be over in a second or two. Planes and satellites travel slowly. If we assume the same object was seen at the same time from Wales & Inverness, then it is very high. In rough terms, the observers are 500 miles apart. Planes are only a few miles up and travel 500mph-ish. Any times & directions from the observers? That would settle a lot of uncertainty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kon Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 Possible military plane(s) in formation or bright satelitte? https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3348310#/media/File:TandemX_TerraSarXduo_satellites.jpg have a look at heavens above and see what satelitte might be passing at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ward Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 100% aircraft , I caught numerous examples the other night going to and fro into Luton and Stansted past mine , here's one that closely resembles the light pattern in your image , two consecutive 30 second exposures. You only have to look at ADS-B Exchange of FlightRadar24 to see just how many aircraft are in the air at any particular moment in the sky near you ... https://globe.adsbexchange.com/ https://www.flightradar24.com/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ward Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 1 hour ago, apaulo said: Definately not an aeroplane, at culloden observatory in inverness, several members saw this from that location. Its not possible to see a plane over inverness from wales. 1 of our members managed to get a shot of the target with his iphone. His shot dosnt have long star trails but just very short trailing of the target, obviously because of shutter speed etc. If i can get a copy i will post it on here . Have you any idea how many aircraft are in the air at any given time , give or take 170,000 at this precise time , over 2100 in this snip alone ... 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apaulo Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 The update ive got from my observing pals is, the target in this pic was in the south south east and was taken from culloden observatory just outside inverness. For a comparison it was brighter than venus and it was in view for aprox 10 seconds then vanished. photo is untouched and just a quick snapshot out of his iphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul M Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 (edited) Two different objects. First image is just a plain old plane. Classic wing tip lights and belly strobe. The image above is less obvious and might be a dual satellite glint. Though satellites don't stay in parallel orbits too easily. Trailing paths yes, diverging paths yes, but rarely parallel for any great time/distance. Maybe launch vehicle activity? Space junk reentry? The two tracks being out of sync makes me think it's not a single plane but could be a pair of military aircraft in transit. Edited August 16 by Paul M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunator Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 I have only seen one 'double meteor' it was a couple of nights ago. I highlighted it in my 'what did you see last night' I know it was a meteor as it came from the persied radiant was quite bright and lasted only a couple of seconds. I was surprised to see 2 parallel trails and my step-son who has much better eyes than me confirm the dual trail. How long was the image exposure? I have to say that the trail looks too 'neat' for a meteor but that doesn't rule it out. Cheers Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy D Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 (edited) @lunator what does, absolutely rule it out as twin meteors are the repeating, evenly spaced red dots between the trails that can only come from an aircraft. 100% this is an aircraft. You need to zoom in to see the red dots. Edited August 16 by Mandy D 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globular Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 16 minutes ago, Mandy D said: You need to zoom in to see the red dots. I can see them without zooming - very obvious on my screen - but for avoidance of doubt here is a zoom.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty1 Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 (edited) 2 minutes ago, globular said: I can see them without zooming - very obvious on my screen - but for avoidance of doubt here is a zoom.... Probably Aircraft navigation lights Edited August 16 by scotty1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ward Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 1 hour ago, scotty1 said: Probably Aircraft navigation lights Sorry but there's nothing "probably" about it ... 😆 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty1 Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 8 minutes ago, Steve Ward said: Sorry but there's nothing "probably" about it ... 😆 You're probably right 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elp Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 I think I've only ever seen a double meteor trail like that earlier this year, but it was in the corner of my vision and it definitely wasn't parallel (referring to the latter image). Not saying it cant be witnessed, but it'd be incredibly rare if it ever did happen. My most recent recordings showed me satellites which fade into view and fade out of view of their paths as they reflect sunlight as they move, never seen this before until last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABGD Posted August 19 Author Share Posted August 19 Thanks all for the feedback. Somehow it's more obvious that the lights are regularly spaced on my photograph on this website, than it was on my own screen. We did both did see something that we thought was a double meteor in much the same region of the sky. It was very fast moving and only visible for a fraction of a second. Presumably this is something different. One thing that confused me was why I could see no coloured lights. This picture shows how when flying away, only white lights may be visible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjohnson3803 Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 I caught a "Chinese triplet" (I think) a few years ago. This might be of interest: https://www.satobs.org/noss.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul M Posted September 12 Share Posted September 12 Captured this tonight on my allsky camera, looks familiar! Only appears on this one 20 sec frame. No sign of it in the frames immediately before and after. So a dual satellite glint! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveNickolls Posted September 14 Share Posted September 14 (edited) Caught earlier this week around 1.10AM Friday 13th September from Nottingham. During a 3 minute exposure. Cheers, Steve Edited September 14 by SteveNickolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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