Sorry Tom, I meant to send this out to the general list - finger trouble. Rod **************** I am interested in just how close the 'near miss' actually was. The newspapers here in NZ refer to the pilot seeing flaming debris and hearing the rumble over the top of the engine noise of the 747, but the passengers heard nothing. They also have latched onto the idea that it was the same object that the Russians gave warning about. As I worked for a newspaper for 25 years, I know how ignorant (and uncaring) of the facts most newspaper reporters tend to be! As an astronomer; in my experience with very bright meteors, the sound of the sonic boom etc, can often be heard but the object is a long way away. In such cases the burning object is many kilometres high. The flaring alone can fool even an experienced observer into believing it is virtually in his lap! Once it gets to low altitude, and certainly of the order of normal jet travel; the object is no longer burning. In this case I wonder if the satellite debris was in fact nowhere near a collision distance. Rod Austin PS Since I wrote this, the local paper has carried a story ex NASA, referring to the event as a possible meteorite instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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