Thread: Star Analyser
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  #23  
Old 29-10-2010, 03:11 AM
robin_astro
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 73
Wow, a UFO with a spectrum - the sort of thing UFO hunters would kill for I suspect

Definitely caused by light coming through the grating from something, given the generation of a spectrum. Unlikely to be a laser because the spectrum looks pretty continuous and covers a broad wavelength range. Either something hot or reflecting sunlight I would say. (Comparsion of the spectrum with that from a G star using the same setup could give a clue) Assuming it is a streak from something moving it has a very high angular velocity of 6 deg in 0.16sec so it would have to be moving extremely fast or alternatively close by, in which case it cannot be very large as it is not resolved. A meteor is an obvious candidate, though the spectrum does not show the characteristic emission lines normally found and there is no obvious sign of variation in the intensity along the track. A piece of space junk burning up on reentry? Not sure what they would look like spectroscopically. It would have to have been travelling very fast though. I suggest letting meteor spectrum expert Ed Majden have a look at it.
http://members.shaw.ca/epmajden/

Robin
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