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A Meteor Train Photographed from an Airplane *
Author(s) -
Monnig Oscar E.
Publication year - 1940
Publication title -
contributions of the society for research on meteorites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 0096-2813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1940.tb00309.x
Subject(s) - meteor (satellite) , airplane , meteorology , altitude (triangle) , geology , geodesy , aeronautics , geography , engineering , mathematics , aerospace engineering , geometry
Two photographs, taken 1939 April 29, by Mr. John H. Spikes (photographer) and Capt. D. Z. Zimmerman (pilot), from an altitude of 9,300 feet about 20 miles east of ***Galem, Alabama, show what the writer interprets as a meteor train. The train is about 13° long on the first picture and 8° on the second. It shows marked distortion and some “doubling.” There are apparently insufficient data and too many unknown variables of motion involved to allow any satisfactory computations of the train's true position, height, or drift, but the upper‐air winds were probably from the west and/or north. No confirming observations of the daylight meteor which presumably caused the train have been secured. Nevertheless, the object shown is thought to be certainly a meteor train. If it is, the photographs are unique in having been taken from an airplane.