NGC 1662 meteor (Various/other)
|
Right ascension: 4h 49m
|
Declination: 10° 58'
|
Constellation: Orion
|
Date/time: 2009.11.24 00:18 UT
|
Equipment: 12" f/5 Newtonian
|
FoV: 30'
|
Magnification and filter(s): 100x
|
Seeing: 7/10
|
Transparency: 3/5
|
Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
|
Observer: Ferenc Lovró
|
Description:
I was sketching the marvelous open cluster of NGC 1662 at 100x and just after I finished and took a final look, at 00:18 UT suddenly a fiery meteor rushed through the FoV, leaving a bluish ionized tail behind. This was visible for about 10 seconds before it disappeared forever. The series of sketches I've rendered digitally after quick drafts made at the eyepiece, using my actual NGC 1662 sketch as a background. As you can see, the tail was quickly moving to the North (thanks to the Dobsonian mount I was able to react and follow very quickly). While it constantly lost its brightness, it became wider and wider, and the most interesting phenomenon was the change of its shape: it got 'broken' at several points. Between each of these points, the tail remained straight. The joints were visibly brighter than the straight parts, just like on the sketch. I wonder if this is the regular behaviour of ionized tails of meteors, but this is what I saw. Anyhow, it was most probably the greatest 10 seconds of my observing life.
|
Hi-resolution image: [ reversed sketch | original sketch ]
|
|
|
|