Schoolboy's photo amazes Nasa: Flaming Meteor

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  • Thread starter Thread starter Ivan Seeking
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    Meteor Nasa Photo
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a schoolboy's photograph of a meteor, which garnered attention from NASA and sparked various personal accounts and inquiries about the phenomenon. Participants share their experiences and seek clarification on related astronomical tools and concepts.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • A schoolboy captured a rare photograph of a meteor burning out, which impressed NASA experts.
  • One participant, Ivan Seeking, shares his personal experience of seeing a meteor, noting it was a slow-moving object and different from the boy's photo.
  • Questions arise about the planisphere, with participants asking for explanations and its uses in astronomy.
  • Another participant mentions starting courses in astronomy and describes the planisphere as a useful tool for beginners.
  • A later post references an article suggesting that the object in the photo may not have been a meteor, introducing uncertainty about the event.
  • Ivan Seeking later clarifies that he calculated the timing of his sighting in relation to the photograph, affirming he witnessed a genuine meteor despite the discrepancies.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express personal experiences and inquiries, but there is no consensus on the nature of the object captured in the photograph, as some suggest it may not be a meteor.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions regarding the identification of the object in the photograph and the timing of sightings. The discussion includes varying interpretations of the event and the use of astronomical tools.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in astronomy, meteor phenomena, and those seeking to understand astronomical tools like the planisphere may find this discussion relevant.

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Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/3155928.stm

I live 15 miles west of this lad, I happened to have seen this outside my 'backyard'. I am currently reading up on some interesting course work, and part of this involves using a planisphere, I happened to go outside to check the skyline for clarity late evening, and woosh! (well actually it was silent) it crossed the sky, quite slow actually, but a great sight nevertheless.

My line of sight was the reverse of the picture taken by the lad,if one flips the picture left to right, what I seen was form the other side, and although I watched for about four seconds( a long time for meteors/) I did not see the full effect shown in the lads photo.

Great picture and one of the best I have seen.
 
Planisphere? Sounds interesting. Care to share?
 
Originally posted by selfAdjoint
Planisphere? Sounds interesting. Care to share?

Yes and please explain some of the terms in simple language
(so listeners besides selfAdjoint get the gist)
Are you going to be able to take photographs of the whole sky?
What is this about?

Your story about seeing the meteor gives the news item
realer, thanks for the amplification.
 
Originally posted by marcus
Yes and please explain some of the terms in simple language
(so listeners besides selfAdjoint get the gist)
Are you going to be able to take photographs of the whole sky?
What is this about?

Your story about seeing the meteor gives the news item
realer, thanks for the amplification.

Quite simple really:http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dgs/alway/planisphere.htm

Although I have just started Two Open University short course's(UK) one being Introducing Astronomy,a precursor to my full course starting in Feb 04, which involves the use of the said Planisphere.

It appears to be a great tool for the a new learner, it give a great perspective of where one is in relation to the dynamics of the cosmos, the Planisphere provided by the University seems quite complicated as it details quite a lot, but its a great hands on tool, every home should have one!
 
Photo of Fiery Object Mystifies Scientists: Space.com

Problem is, it turns out, there was no meteor.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_031013.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I should have come back to this sooner, my apologies!

When I posted my response, it was before I had seen the local and bbc news-shot, it then turned out that I could calculate that what I had seen was a little later than the image taken by the Lad. As I stated in my post, I had not seen the 'explosive' image, but I had surely seen a genuine meteor/ite!

The local report had given a precise time the Lad took his photo, and I knew what I seen was much later, In hindsight I should have realized the image in the photo was around Dusk, what I seen was quite later. Great to have the image taken by the lad cleared up though

picture nevertheless.
 

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