Is this a double meteor? If not, then what?

[ABGD]

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

[Tomatobro]

The series of regular dots between the two trails gives the game away.

[Mandy D]

It is most definitely an aircraft. The regular, repeating lights between the two trails confirm that.

[apaulo]

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 .

[dweller25]

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

[Carbon Brush]

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.
 

[Kon]

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.

 

 

[Steve Ward]

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/

 

 

[Steve Ward]

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 ... 😉

 

[apaulo]

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. 

[Paul M]

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

[lunator]

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

[Mandy D]

@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

[globular]

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....

 

[scotty1]

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

[Steve Ward]

1 hour ago, scotty1 said:

Probably Aircraft navigation lights 

Sorry but there's nothing "probably" about it ... 😆

 

[scotty1]

8 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

Sorry but there's nothing "probably" about it ... 😆

 

You're probably right 

[Elp]

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.

[ABGD]

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.

[jjohnson3803]

I caught a "Chinese triplet" (I think) a few years ago.  This might be of interest:

https://www.satobs.org/noss.html

 

 

[Paul M]

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!

[SteveNickolls]

Caught earlier this week around 1.10AM Friday 13th September from Nottingham. During a 3 minute exposure.

Cheers,
Steve

Edited September 14 by SteveNickolls