"Hearing" a meteor

[JohnD]

A friend was watching the Perseids h eother night, and swears he heard one.

This is a retired Professor of Engineering, no woowoo! And he has referred to some research on "photo-acoustics" . It is suggested that the light of the meteor stimulates the watcher's hair, causing it to vibrate and a faint 'whoosh' noise. This theory conveniently gets around the different speeds of light and sound; so conveniently, I'm suspicious!

Anyone here know about photo-acoustics?
John

[neufer]

<<Sound generated by a meteor in the upper atmosphere, such as a sonic boom, typically arrives many seconds after the visual light from a meteor disappears. Occasionally, as with the Leonid meteor shower of 2001,"crackling", "swishing", or "hissing" sounds have been reported, occurring at the same instant as a meteor flare. Similar sounds have also been reported during intense displays of Earth's auroras.

Theories on the generation of these sounds may partially explain them. For example, scientists at NASA suggested that the turbulent ionized wake of a meteor interacts with Earth's magnetic field, generating pulses of radio waves. As the trail dissipates, megawatts of electromagnetic power could be released, with a peak in the power spectrum at audio frequencies. Physical vibrations induced by the electromagnetic impulses would then be heard if they are powerful enough to make grasses, plants, eyeglass frames, and other conductive materials vibrate. This proposed mechanism, although proven to be plausible by laboratory work, remains unsupported by corresponding measurements in the field. Sound recordings made under controlled conditions in Mongolia in 1998 support the contention that the sounds are real.>>

[Chris Peterson]

A friend was watching the Perseids h eother night, and swears he heard one.

This is a retired Professor of Engineering, no woowoo! And he has referred to some research on "photo-acoustics" . It is suggested that the light of the meteor stimulates the watcher's hair, causing it to vibrate and a faint 'whoosh' noise. This theory conveniently gets around the different speeds of light and sound; so conveniently, I'm suspicious!

Anyone here know about photo-acoustics?

I'm skeptical of that explanation.

Meteors are known to produce two kinds of noise. One is simple acoustics. A large meteor that descends below about 30 miles height can produce strong enough sound waves to reach the ground. This typically sounds like a sonic boom or like distant fireworks, and follows the visual phenomenon by several minutes. The other kind of noise is called electrophonic. It is apparently caused by audio frequency electromagnetic radiation produced by the meteor head or trail. Such radiation has been detected on a few occasions. The mechanism by which this is transduced to sound is poorly understood, but in most cases those who hear it are around metal of some kind- BBQ grills, metal garage doors, jewelry, or eyeglass frames, which are suspected of mechanically resonating and producing the sound.

Electrophonic noise is usually described as a sort of hiss, similar to frying bacon. Auroras can also produce it.

[JohnD]

Thank you, Chris! Somehow, radiowaves that vibrate your glasses seem more possible than light waves that vibrate your hair, without actually burning it off.
Found this - first page only: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... NSE_DENIED

John

[Wherever it fits]

I both saw and heard a fireball go through Northern Lights .. same fireball, not two different ones. Kind of like a shuishhhhhhhhing .. not, not swishing sound, though it traveled fast .. almost a huishing whiush sound .. if y'all were here for a hear I would have a drink of something spiriting and try to imitate it for y'all. Cheers.