Trouvelot's Illustration of an 1868 Meteor Shower

[Giddierone]

In 1868 there was a large meteor shower visible over two nights, 13-14 November, from the East coast of the US and also Britain.

There's a lot of newspaper clippings about it at the time with reports from various locations. Just one example: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...teor+&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

and there's an illustration published years later in 1882 by Etienne Trouvelot that depicts one object making a sudden sharp change of direction — which is, of course, a common description of UFOs.

Source:https://ia902804.us.archive.org/20/items/TrouvelotAstronomicalDrawings/12 The November meteors. As observed between midnight and 5 o'clock A.M. on the night of November 13-14 1868..jpg

It has this interesting description:

It's interesting because this kind of odd movement of a light source has been discussed here before, and is usually down to tripod shake or some other camera issue. However, this is a hand drawn illustration so that shouldn't be the explanation for the single object that takes a sharp change of direction—which is not how meteors work.

This reminds me a little of the Chiles-Whitted UFO case where two pilots saw an object (thought to be a meteor) apparently ascend rapidly in an un-meteor like manner.

I wonder if this is a misperception; the after-image of seeing a bright meteor while looking around / moving eyes over the sky. Is that the reason this sharp angled track appeared in the illustration and was reported as making that movement? Or, perhaps the illustration is actually based on a long exposure photo from the early days of photography and the illustrator has committed to reproduce it faithfully, but inaccurately.

 

[Ann K]

The artist says "as observed", so I take it to mean from his own observations, not a photo. If there exist photos of this meteor shower, I haven't found any; indeed, this illustration comes up as the first depiction of that event. But possible causes of that right angle might include:
1) Misremembering, fourteen years later.
2) Misperception, perhaps blinking just at the moment that two tracks crossed.
3) Artistic license, for reasons of his own.
4) Possible explosive disintegration of one of the larger pieces as it burst in the atmosphere, sending a piece flying sideways? Is this possible? Is it likely? Or perhaps the collision of two meteorites?

Last, but certainly least probable:
5) An extraterrestrial craft whose occupants decided that a night of celestial bombardment was a good time to fly through the barrage.

 

[jdog]

Last, but certainly least probable:
5) An extraterrestrial craft whose occupants decided that a night of celestial bombardment was a good time to fly through the barrage.

Of course they should later have emerged and gone gallivanting across Massachusetts in their tripods.

 

[MapperGuy]

Many years ago, on a cold and cloudless December night I was walking along a snow covered road.
I tilted my head back to look at the stars.
As I did so a shooting star, headed in the same direction I was walking, appeared from behind me.
As it passed directly overhead it VERY briefly disappeared, to be replaced by two smaller shooting stars heading off in slightly diverging directions. Maybe 10 degrees seperation between their paths? The two objects were only visible for a brief time, shorter trails than the initial one.
Obviously the object had split as it burned up and the two resulting fragments took up slightly diverging paths.

I mention the snow covered road because of another element of this. The ground and road were covered with newly fallen snow, there was no wind, no traffic, no other people around, almost total silence. Yet at the same instant I saw the shooting star I heard a distinct hissing sound. Which could not have been sound waves from the shooting star because it would have taken time for sound to reach me from however high the shooting star was, yet there was no delay.
I have read of other people experiencing this, with no obvious explanation of the mechanism.

So shooting stars changing course? Seen it myself.

 

[Giddierone]

But "slightly diverging" isn't how you'd describe the object in the illustration right?

 

[3db]

I think some artistic license was taken in that illustration, but given a dark sky and meteor storm, it might be reasonable.

Once, under very dark night sky conditions I looked at a meteor trail with binoculars several seconds after it had passed (I don't remember if I could still see the trail with the naked eye, and observed it to look like a sinuous coiled rope; don't recall if my dad had time to see it also after I passed him the binoculars).

Here is a paper reporting the same thing.

And here is a hobby photographer reporting it as well.

Source: https://youtu.be/S--URg-4C6E?t=78

 

[Giddierone]

5) An extraterrestrial craft whose occupants decided that a night of celestial bombardment was a good time to fly through the barrage.

A similar theory was put forward by Cynthia Hind to describe the apparent discrepancies between witness reports of the rocket body reentry seen over Southern Africa in 1994. She claimed that aliens used the distraction of a human made object reentering the atmosphere to disguise their own ships coming to "have a look to see what's going on."

 

[Ann K]

Yet at the same instant I saw the shooting star I heard a distinct hissing sound. Which could not have been sound waves from the shooting star because it would have taken time for sound to reach me from however high the shooting star was

Maybe it was a lot closer than you think, and you had a near miss? Another possibility is that the sound came from a previous meteorite which you hadn't noticed, instead of from the one you describe. Interesting story; thanks!

 

[JMartJr]

Maybe it was a lot closer than you think, and you had a near miss? Another possibility is that the sound came from a previous meteorite which you hadn't noticed, instead of from the one you describe. Interesting story; thanks!

I had never considered the second possibility to explain the occasional reports of sounds associated with meteors, well thought-of! I don't think the first can be correct -- by the time it is "low and close" it should be past the visible "shooting star" stage (or at least such is my understanding, I am not claiming great meteor-knowing!) But the sound of an earlier meteor, especially in a meteor shower, seems plausible.

 

[Edward Current]

The ground and road were covered with newly fallen snow, there was no wind, no traffic, no other people around, almost total silence. Yet at the same instant I saw the shooting star I heard a distinct hissing sound.

I would bet any sum of money that this is a psychological phenomenon. In our daily lives (and in movies and television) we are not used to seeing an object zip along in silence. For example a baseball thrown at 70+ MPH makes a hissing sound as it approaches. And every video these days has a whoosh sound effect if something is changing quickly. I think it's the brain filling in the "sound" that it expects to be there when a highly conspicuous thing is seen moving fast. Or at least, we remember such a sound coinciding with the sight of the meteor, for similar reasons. There are other phenomena similar to this.

 

[Edward Current]

The artist says "as observed", so I take it to mean from his own observations, not a photo. If there exist photos of this meteor shower, I haven't found any; indeed, this illustration comes up as the first depiction of that event. But possible causes of that right angle might include:
1) Misremembering, fourteen years later.
2) Misperception, perhaps blinking just at the moment that two tracks crossed.
3) Artistic license, for reasons of his own.
4) Possible explosive disintegration of one of the larger pieces as it burst in the atmosphere, sending a piece flying sideways? Is this possible? Is it likely? Or perhaps the collision of two meteorites?

The meteors in a meteor shower are moving almost exactly in parallel, and appear from Earth's surface to be radiating from a specific point in the sky, so I don't think collisions are likely in the brief moments that they're entering the upper atmosphere. I blame misremembering.

 

[Trailblazer]

Could it be a case of foreshortening exaggerating a slightly curved trajectory? Similar to the way that plane contrails can appear to have sharp (>90º) bends in them even though the actual course correction is slight.

Although that wouldn't explain the trails in this illustration that actually appar to make a U turn and head back upwards.

 

[Giddierone]

I'd read that he used a telescope with a grid guide to reproduce his observations. Although it's not clear if this particular illustration is made up of telescope observations. But, perhaps this is where the distortion comes from + misremembering?

 

[jarlrmai]

I saw a meteor do a dog leg once, it was early dawn and it left a visible trail in sky.

This would have been at least 25 years ago but I remember it clearly.

 

[JMartJr]

Once, under very dark night sky conditions I looked at a meteor trail with binoculars several seconds after it had passed (I don't remember if I could still see the trail with the naked eye, and observed it to look like a sinuous coiled rope; don't recall if my dad had time to see it also after I passed him the binoculars).

Video of the same sort of phenomenon.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fApn8b4u2n4?feature=share

 

[Ann K]

Once, under very dark night sky conditions I looked at a meteor trail with binoculars several seconds after it had passed (I don't remember if I could still see the trail with the naked eye, and observed it to look like a sinuous coiled rope; don't recall if my dad had time to see it also after I passed him the binoculars).

Here is a paper reporting the same thing.

I see that trail was visible for at least three minutes. I think that's plenty of time for atmospheric distortion of the trail, so one seen to bend and twist does not mean that the meteorite itself did it, just the lingering trail. What is the trail? Is it just "meteorite dandruff", small particles sloughing off the main body? From one to three minutes in that photo you can see it slowly descending as it settles toward earth. Yet it is still visible, so either the small particles are still glowing themselves, or they are reflecting light from elsewhere.

 

[JMartJr]

What is the trail? Is it just "meteorite dandruff", small particles sloughing off the main body?

I see it called a "plasma trail." So maybe that? But then, I've also seen it called a "meteor contrail," so what people call it may not be definitive!

 

[Edward Current]

Grok (without referencing Hitler) pointed me to the term "meteor train" to describe these trails that persist long enough to be distorted by atmospheric winds. Googling the term turns up some interesting info, e.g.:

Meteor wakes are formed by rarified non-equilibrium gas behind the meteoroid. The green train, produced by the radiation of the forbidden oxygen line at 557.7 nm, is created by reactions among atmospheric species. The persistent train is the most complex phenomenon with three phases of evolution. The afterglow phase is formed by cooling rarified gas. After that, atomic recombination phase follows. The third and most persistent continuum phase is probably fed by chemiluminescence. Finally, the reflection train occurs when sunlight is scattered by a dust cloud created by meteoroid disruption.

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006JRASC.100..194B/abstract

Brighter events can also be accompanied by what's known as a meteor train. A meteor train arises when the column of ionised gas left behind by a bright trail event is large enough and bright enough to remain visible after the trail has subsided. Often incorrectly described as a 'smoke trail', a meteor train initially appears like a ghostly aircraft vapor trail.

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/observe-photograph-meteor-train

 

[Giddierone]

Some additional description of the curving shapes of meteor trails. Elsewhere It was estimated that 2,500 meteors fell per hour and some accounts say they appeared like fireworks radiating from one point (others say they came from all directions). Descriptions of the trails being visible range from a few seconds to over 30 minutes.

So the alleged change of direction of the meteor in the top post seems to be an embellishment as it was likely its trail long after the meteor was visible.

 

[MonkeeSage]

During the drone flap I remember seeing several videos claiming the object did a 90 degree turn, but it was actually that the object was passing overhead and the person filming was pointing the camera up and rotating it to follow as the object passed over, causing the illusion that it was changing direction. @Kyle Ferriter posted an excellent example he captured in this comment. I think a similar effect would be perceived if one were looking up and turning their head to follow a meteor passing over, so perhaps this illusion could also account for the description of the meteor changing direction.

 

[elvenwear]

During the drone flap I remember seeing several videos claiming the object did a 90 degree turn, but it was actually that the object was passing overhead and the person filming was pointing the camera up and rotating it to follow as the object passed over, causing the illusion that it was changing direction. @Kyle Ferriter posted an excellent example he captured in this comment. I think a similar effect would be perceived if one were looking up and turning their head to follow a meteor passing over, so perhaps this illusion could also account for the description of the meteor changing direction.

You are correct. This is analogous to a gimbal rotation problem. That aside, I think 3db has the correct answer to this problem.

 

[Eburacum]

Earth-grazing meteors are a thing, and show that an incoming object can skip back out into space. However the change in direction is quite subtle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-grazing_fireball
After skipping off the top of the atmosphere, an Earth-grazing meteor would no longer be parallel with the rest of the shower, and appear to be issuing from a different radiant.