unidentified streak across the martian sky

[mcrom901]

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Spacecraft?

Observing the sky with the green filter of it panoramic camera, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit came across a surprise: a streak across the sky. The streak, seen in the middle of this mosaic of images taken by the navigation and panoramic cameras, was probably the brightest object in the sky at the time. Scientists theorize that the mystery line could be either a meteorite or one of seven out-of-commission spacecraft still orbiting Mars. Because the object appeared to move 4 degrees of an arc in 15 seconds it is probably not the Russian probes Mars 2, Mars 3, Mars 5, or Phobos 2; or the American probes Mariner 9 or Viking 1. That leaves Viking 2, which has a polar orbit that would fit with the north-south orientation of the streak. In addition, only Viking 1 and 2 were left in orbits that could produce motion as fast as that seen by Spirit. Said Mark Lemmon, a rover team member from Texas A&M University, Texas, "Is this the first image of a meteor on Mars, or an image of a spacecraft sent from another world during the dawn of our robotic space exploration program? We may never know, but we are still looking for clues."

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html

[mcrom901]

The inset shows only the panoramic image of the streak.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A&M

[Blink4567]

Man I can't help but notice that the landscape on mars is striking. I know the lens is "green Filter" but the backround is beautiful like the desert here on earth. Very Cool man.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Wow, that's a blast from the past. That image is from 2004. I remember their being much discussion on it in the past.

[mcrom901]

Wow, that's a blast from the past. That image is from 2004. I remember their being much discussion on it in the past.

oops, i thought it was something new, should have looked more....

Description

English: This is an image of what is now believed to be the first meteor photographed on Mars. The image was taken by Mars rover Spirit on March 7, 2004 (Sol 63), at 04:50:19 local time (LST), with an exposure time of 15 seconds. Analysis published in the June 2, 2005 issue of Nature indicates that this was likely a meteor from a Martian meteor shower whose parent body is comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff and whose radiant is in the constellation Cepheus. Because of the long exposure time, another possibility originally considered was that this could have been the Viking 2 Orbiter rather than a meteor. Date 2 June 2005 (original upload date)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_Sol63A_UFO-A067R1.jpg

[mcrom901]

back to earth...

http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~physics/PhysPhotOfWeek/2010PPOW/20100903DuskAirplane/

[ChrLzs]

I reckon Viking.. Seems a bit too even for a meteor, but I guess there's not much in it.. For a not-very-useful comparison, here's the ISS going over my place last year.

Taken shortly after dusk, 14 second time exposure, Moon at lower left..

[mcrom901]

http://www.warren-wi...03DuskAirplane/

re the embedded image ^^ pls note that the length of the object/streak is due to a 15 second time exposure i.e. different images with similar exposures were sequentially stacked to create the time lapse animation

[Spacenut56]

But meteors fall from up to down, in this pic it appears its more side movement. Could be something. May not be. Can't draw much of a conclusion.

[Oppono Astos]

But meteors fall from up to down, in this pic it appears its more side movement. Could be something. May not be. Can't draw much of a conclusion.

Do you seriously believe that statement to be fact?

[Spacenut56]

I am not an expert, so I don't know what the pic actually is. I do know I find the pic, interesting.

[JesseCuster]

But meteors fall from up to down, in this pic it appears its more side movement. Could be something. May not be. Can't draw much of a conclusion.

Meteors aren't really falling down towards the earth. They're whizzing through the solar system like the earth and sometimes their paths cross ours. As a result they can hit the atmosphere at all sorts of different angles.

For comparison, here's a pic of the trail from the Russian meteor from earlier this year:

Not exactly falling "up to down" is it?

[S2F]

Spacenut may mean that a meteor enters the atmosphere (up) and is drawn toward the surface to either burn up or impact (down). Although how that appears to the observer is determined by the observers orientation relative to the path of said meteor.

How possible is it is for a meteor to enter, then exit an atmosphere without impact (on Mars or Earth)?

[Spacenut56]

Yes, thank you Slave.

[seeder]

While the link provided above does have the date at 2004, a quick google seems to be chucking this up as NEW news! Maybe its an old pic used with a new story? or someones got confuddled somewhere, see some results here with dates

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Rover+Records+Something+Streaking+Across+The+Marsian+Sky%2C&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs#client=firefox-a&hs=wW6&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=rcs&q=Rover+Records+Something+Streaking+Across+The+Martian+Sky,&spell=1&sa=X&ei=OT6mUf68DsaH0AXay4CYDg&ved=0CCwQvwUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47008514,d.d2k&fp=357ef9fd8120be60&biw=1280&bih=606

Then a vid of same thing

Plus I have seen quite a few 'different' pics, over the years, of things in the mars sky. (I think the one with a flock of geese tho maybe a hoax )

[seeder]

Spacenut may mean that a meteor enters the atmosphere (up) and is drawn toward the surface to either burn up or impact (down). Although how that appears to the observer is determined by the observers orientation relative to the path of said meteor.

How possible is it is for a meteor to enter, then exit an atmosphere without impact (on Mars or Earth)?

Thats a question for the space people here, however, the first shooting star I ever saw was on a school trip, a glowing streak looked like it had come down to earth less than quarter of a mile away from our camp....BUT...our teach said it more than likely didnt hit earth at all, it just had the illusion of hitting.

Now as I got older, I learned that meteors only really glow when being heated in the atmosphere. So whether it entered the atmosphere and landed, or entered and skimmed off again I have no way to know. But Ive seen dozens since, and some do zip straight down, but I have seen one or two going ''sort of' horizontal like the russian meteor image posted, tho not as fiery and smokey as that of course. Im always out some place in August looking for the perseids!!

BTW heres a list of upcoming meteor showers anyone can see if the skies are clear and youre in the right part of the world!!

http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors

[S2F]

Yes, thank you Slave.

No problem Spacenut56, unfortunately there are misunderstandings from time to time around here. Don't take them personally, they are inevitable when we restrict ourselves to a written word format such as a forum.

Welcome to UM by the way, it's always good to see fresh new blood around here.

[S2F]

Thats a question for the space people here, however, the first shooting star I ever saw was on a school trip, a glowing streak looked like it had come down to earth less than quarter of a mile away from our camp....BUT...our teach said it more than likely didnt hit earth at all, it just had the illusion of hitting.

Now as I got older, I learned that meteors only really glow when being heated in the atmosphere. So whether it entered the atmosphere and landed, or entered and skimmed off again I have no way to know. But Ive seen dozens since, and some do zip straight down, but I have seen one or two going ''sort of' horizontal like the russian meteor image posted, tho not as fiery and smokey as that of course. Im always out some place in August looking for the perseids!!

BTW heres a list of upcoming meteor showers anyone can see if the skies are clear and youre in the right part of the world!!

http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors

I like to get out and watch the night sky too on occasion however it's been overcast and rainy here for the last couple of weeks which is odd for this time of year here. Unfortunately the only scope I have is on my hunting rifle. My neighbors would think I was nuttier than a squirrel turd if I was out pointing my rifle at the sky. Maybe while wearing a tinfoil hat, to complete the ensemble!

[seeder]

No problem Spacenut56, unfortunately there are misunderstandings from time to time around here. Don't take them personally, they are inevitable when we restrict ourselves to a written word format such as a forum.

Welcome to UM by the way, it's always good to see fresh new blood around here.

hehe, that reminded me of the Shawshank Redemption scene about..."fresh fish, fresh fish...My moneys on fat-ass"

[JesseCuster]

While the link provided above does have the date at 2004, a quick google seems to be chucking this up as NEW news! Maybe its an old pic used with a new story? or someones got confuddled somewhere, see some results here with dates

https://www.google.c...iw=1280&bih=606

Then a vid of same thing

[media=]

[/media]

Plus I have seen quite a few 'different' pics, over the years, of things in the mars sky. (I think the one with a flock of geese tho maybe a hoax )

Ah, the Alien Disclosure Group. Is there anything they won't post? From ghost photos that's easily disproven as a hoax to UFO pics that have been zoomed in on and filtered through Photoshop such that the result is a meaningless mess.

They have misunderstood what the NASA guy was saying. Given that NASA were speculating that the object could have been one of the Viking satellites, it obviously follows that "a spacecraft sent from another world during the dawn of our robotic space exploration program" refers to a spacecraft sent from another world to Mars, i.e. Earth, and he was thus not confirming anything to do with aliens. He's suggesting that the Mars rover picked up a fellow spacecraft from its home planet, Earth.

That's not really a video of the object. Taking a photo of an object and zooming in and out does not give you a video of the object.

[seeder]

I like to get out and watch the night sky too on occasion however it's been overcast and rainy here for the last couple of weeks which is odd for this time of year here. Unfortunately the only scope I have is on my hunting rifle. My neighbors would think I was nuttier than a squirrel turd if I was out pointing my rifle at the sky. Maybe while wearing a tinfoil hat, to complete the ensemble!

hehe, yeh we have had some nuts weather too in the UK lately, sunny hot days, with blue skies and hail showers (???)... then a week of high temps, a big storm and non stop REALLY heavy rain these past few days, causing floods here and there. But no matter how much rain the rainy UK gets, we will still have a hosepipe ban in august. Go figure!!

I look for the august ones as one of my lads was born 31st July, the other born 1st August - 10 years later, and at both birth times Ive seen the meteors so the lads have been brainwashed with feeling special about meteors close to their birth dates

But mostly its too overcast or I get side tracked somehow

[seeder]

That's not really a video of the object. Taking a photo of an object and zooming in and out does not give you a video of the object.

hehe, Yeh I know, I just saw the link to 'a' vid while posting the google hit page links

[Spacenut56]

Very interesting. The music is creepy.

[ChrLzs]

While it is technically possible for a meteor to skim the atmosphere and head off again, it sorta depends on your definition of where the atmosphere ends.. Many rocks just skim by and get deflected by earth without falling to the ground, and some of those will certainly encounter air molecules..

However... For a meteor to become visible it's pretty deep into our atmosphere, and once it starts burning up the chances of it skimming back out again would drop markedly.

Then again, Mars' atmosphere is very thin, so... Dang, it's way too complex to make guesses..

I will say this though - with some hard work, an intrepid investigator could probably use the information from that trail to work out a rough orbital path assuming it *was* Viking, such that they could then get Curiosity to look up again when it might be next passing by overhead at a suitable time to catch the Sun.. BTW, let me make it very clear that this hypothetical investigator is *not* gunna be me! My orbital mechanics knowledge is barely at the 101 level and there would be a fair bit involved in such an analysis.. And yes, that analysis would be - rocket science !!

[AlienDan]

I would say a satellite reflecting the sunlight. Also because you can tell the image is taken around night, so it would have to be a longer exposure, which would cause a single point of light to be a streak.