Can you hear a meteor?

[Paul D]

This has been a question that has interested me for a number of years now. The curiosity comes from an experience that happened several years ago. It was about 8 years ago and Bob M and I had just wrapped up a night of observing at Stellafane. We decided that we would pull out our lawn chairs and watch meteors and satellites passing overhead. It was the peak of the Perseus meteor showers and we were observing well over 60 meteors an hour. As we were observing a very bright fireball lit up the sky and Bob and I simultaneously looked at each other and at the same time said "DID YOU HEAR THAT?" Knowing that sound travels slowly we doubted that we could hear a meteor at the same time we saw the flash. Its just not possible. Well it appears that now what we heard was possible. An article in Sky and Telescope website seems to confirm this. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronom ... dium=email

[Pete]

Very cool Paul. And perhaps reassuring that You Are Not Alone

Pete

[Bruce D]

We've talked about hearing meteors a few times, Bob M posted an article about a similar explaination involving radio waves in 2011-
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2798&p=25690&hilit=meteor#p25690

[Paul D]

We've talked about hearing meteors a few times, Bob M posted an article about a similar explaination involving radio waves in 2011-
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2798&p=25690&hilit=meteor#p25690

Your right Bruce, but for Bob and myself the doubt continued to exist because the article that Bob posted was dealing with Auroras. An aurora as you know can spread from horizon to horizon, much larger than the golf ball size meteors that produce sound. The best analogy I heard for this was hearing a mosquito hitting a bug zapper at two miles away at the same time you saw the flash. It was perplexing to us knowing that you can have lightning and hear the sound several seconds afterwards but a meteor in the upper atmosphere makes a sound the instant you see it.

Is this the answer? Well maybe and maybe not? But I am happy to know that there are many other astronomers out there that are also hearing meteors and that Bob and I were not suffering from fatigue from a night of observing.

[Apollo XX]

Finally! Now something positive can come from all that hair on my body.

[Dark Helmet]

Hi Paul,

As a avid radio astronomer, yes you can "hear" aurora and meteors.

In fact, I frequently listen to aurora's occuring north of 45 degree latitude over the Canadian Maritimes but not visible down here in New England. One can use an AM radio listening around 550-700, away from the high power Clear Channels. Find a weak AM transmitting station, usually below the aurora happening, and one will hear the station signal fade from crystal clear to total silence.

For meteors, I usually tune my shortwave radio to around 70Mhz-76Mhz on the FM setting. That seems to a clear area in the crowd radio spectrum here in southern New England. Sure enough, I can hear metoers long before I see it streak across the sky.

Matt P.

[Paul D]

Yes Matt, I knew about hearing them using a radio and have done it myself in the past. But I never thought it would be possible to hear them using my own ears without the aid of any electronic equipment. That is what surprised Bob and myself the most knowing at that split second we both heard it so we were not imagining it. I can honestly say it is the only meteor I have ever heard, since then I have listened but heard no other meteor without electronic equipment. Maybe a once in a lifetime thing? But I feel a peace knowing that night I was not alone when I heard a meteor.

[Dark Helmet]

Hi Paul,

I just realized my original post got cut off a bit before I submitted it. Sorry for the confusion. My bad. Yes, you can hear meteors without electronic equipment. If the meteor is heavy enough and dense enough, usually iron core, it will push so hard against Earth's dense lower atmosphere, as to create noise (sound waves). The fairly recent meteor that went over Russia was heard by lots of folks. Media reports indicated people hearing a whoosh or whistling sounds, then a rush of air sound, and a loud bang when it exploded. Sound travels at 343 meters per second. If the meteor is in Earth atmosphsere, if you account Dopplar Shift in the sound wave generated by the meteor, you would hear a noise almost instantly. The delay due to the Doppler Effect, might be so suttle, the your ear does not pick it up. Hence seeing a fireball and hearing at the same time would be totally possible.

Matt

[DonB]

I have been reading this tread with interest. I can't say that I ever heard a meteor, but I feel sure that I did smell one once. About twenty years ago under central Maine's dark skies, the fireball streaked across and was very impressive. However, about thirty seconds later, for three or four minutes we could clearly smell the order of what could best be described as a sulfur smell.

Don

[Dark Helmet]

Hi Don,

That's very interesting observation that you could smell the after-effect of a meteor. I wonder if the meteor caused some type of ozone discharge, as ozone typically smells like gun-power or sulfur???



Matt