The real Fire In the Sky

reply to post by weedwhacker


You did a good job weedwhacker Did not mean to make you think I was jumping on you for saying something misleading!

I just took the opportunity to try and clear up a common misconception. I feel it's important to differentiate between "burning" and "ablation", just as we do between "burning" and "aircraft contrails". Pointing out the differences, and what to look for when IDing objects in the sky will hopefully prevent at least a few people wrongly IDing objects in the future, although in some cases, it's not easy to tell for certain straight off the bat, even for many experts (see the "NASA" example above!).

It also sounds wrong to me to say a meteor "burns" - a bit like saying your mobile phone "burns" when you switch it on, or your monitor is "burning", plus it also reinforces the idea that meteorites cause fires I believe, which is another misconception that much of the public (including members on this forum) holds.

reply to post by C.H.U.D.

Thanks C.H.U.D.

I'll have a look at all that.