what are the odds?

[GazK]

Now I know y'all aren't going to believe me, but on Sat night at about 21.30, while observing M79 with the 10" dob (think I had the 25mm EP in) I was amazed to see a meteor streak through the EP heading East to West. About 2 minutes later another meteor went through the same view! The second event was also seen by a fellow SPOGger, who was also on M79.

Are there any statisticians in who would care to have a stab at calculating odds on this?

[Doc]

You see loads of meteors shooting through space, you also see loads of sattelites as well. I've seen hundreds in my eyepieces.

[Psychobilly]

2^2079460347 to one

[GazK]

psycho: can I see your working please? And please note: wet fingers are *NOT* accepted in this exam!

[Psychobilly]

Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy...

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive been lucky enough to see a single meteor cross my FOV while observing. I was using a 32mm EP at the time so i really saw it.

Doubt i'll ever be so lucky ever again.

[Doc]

The more aperture the more you see. With 16" of aperture you see loads of really dim one shoot by.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The more aperture the more you see. With 16" of aperture you see loads of really dim one shoot by.

With my 5" scope all i see all night every night is satellites passing by. I can imagine how much of a pain they would be with a 16" scope..............especially if trying to image.

I think my record is 50 satellites in about 3 hrs of observing.

[Hypernova]

I once saw a double meteor streak across the FOV as I was observing Polaris, I then looked up with my own eyes to see them travelling west, both components were very faint and orange in colour for about 15-20 secs, in that time they crossed around half way from Polaris to around 20 degrees above the western horizon.

[george7378]

I have seen lots of satellites, including one recently which pretty much transited Jupiter while I was observing it, but never any meteors.