[AZ-Observing] Re: meteor Q&A
- From: Joe Orman <joe.orman@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 20:55:38 -0700 (PDT)
I also head the hissing sound once, accompanying a very bright pre-dawn meteor
I saw from my front yard. The fact that I wasn't expecting any sound convinced
me it was real.
--Joe Orman
"Workman, Brian (AZ76)" wrote:
My understanding is that the hissing sound is an indirect effect, that
it is not a sound directly from the meteor. My understanding is that it
comes from the buzzing of things near the viewer like plant matter,
particles of dirt, the viewer's clothing, etc. that are excited by
electromagnetic waves from the interaction between the meteor and the
upper atmosphere.
Reports of this sound were dismissed for years due to the relatively
large distance to the viewer and the relatively slow speed of sound. A
viewer shouldn't hear anything for a long time afterward, and even then
it should be too faint to hear due to the square of the distance effect.
I believe this was resolved when someone was able to setup transducers
and catch the effect as it happened.
--
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