New Image: Meteor June 25th

[Baurice]

On June 25th. at 0019 GMT I caught a meteor trail pass the Coathanger asterism.

[KathyNS]

Looks more like a satellite trail to me, but a nice catch. A meteor would begin and end dim, with a bright middle. Satellites are more likely to remain at a constant brightness.

[Baurice]

Quite possibly a satellite but the curve at the end of the trail suggested a meteor was more likely. Sometimes I see the meteors that I photograph, the best case being the 2020 Lyrid shower and not all look like the "classsic" one. Also, this trail suggested that a satellite that covered only a short distance in 15 seconds would have been a very slow one.

I agree that there's an element of doubt. I was using 16 seconds as I was going for constellations. When I use my normal 6 seconds, the dead giveaway for as satellite is that it appears in the previous and/or following frames. To muddy the waters even further, I saw a fireball during the session that had a trail of over 90 degrees. Had I caught part of the trail on camera, I would have dismissed it as a satellite.

The whole subject is fascinating.