Is this a meteor?

[steviet]

Hi all,

I was out on 13-3-11 using my SP900NC webcam and Skywatcher explorer 130PM to image Saturn using a 2x barlow lens. I was right at the end of taking my last movie of the night when I noticed a flash across the screen. I tookm the 4 frames of the movie in which the flash occurs and projected them together into one image.

Is this a meteor i have caught or something else - I'm guessign this is quite rare when not looking out for them??

Apologies for the poor quality of the image but I have not done any processing other than the projection of the frames.

cheers

Steve

[mikeyscope]

Hi Steve

Doesn't have the right characteristics for a meteor, most likely it's a satellite or space junk...unfortunately common in imaging to the point of being a nuisance!

Mike

[rabbithutch]

Are you saying that the light is from space junk breaking up and burning on re-entering the atmosphere? I recall that the MIR was not totally destroyed on re-entry but splashed down in the mid-Pacific in very deep water. Does that mean that other space junk might not be totally consumed on re-entry? Given the number of pieces of space junk that show up on sites that map them, I wonder what the risk to those on earth is from it.

[steviet]

Thanks Mike,

even if it isn't a meteor, then I will take comfort in being the person to spot the last flash of a piece of space junk as it flashed from existance!

By the way - what characteristics would a meteor have that distinguishes it as one?

cheers

[mikeyscope]

By the way - what characteristics would a meteor have that distinguishes it as one?

A meteor tends to show tapering in width of trail though your capture is too short to tell for sure. The trail is just too uniform in brightness & width plus appears to have a blunt end suggesting satellite or space junk trail caught in mid frame.

I'm not suggesting a burn up of space junk here just illumination by reflected sunlight as per a satellite.

A webcam chip is a pretty small field of view at the focal length you are using so a passing satellite would flash across the screen in an instant!

Mike