(meteorobs) Re: Zeta Aurigids? etc.

[Robert Lunsford]

Ed and All,

The odds of your meteors being Zeta Aurigids are remote. The main reason I 
believe this is that this shower is near the limit of visual detection even 
at maximum (late December/early January). The odds of seeing two in the same 
session two weeks before maximum is not good. I believe your meteors were 
sporadic.

I also doubt if there is any connection with the anthelion radiant either 
for the reason you mentioned.

I found your other comments interesting. Congratulations on passing such a 
milestone. It would be interesting to see the percentages of all my meteors 
too. Despite the strong Leonid activity from 99-02, I believe my totals for 
the Perseids and Geminids would far exceed the Leonids. I was seeing a lot 
of Perseids and Geminids long before the Leonids came back to life.

Bob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ed Cannon" <ecannon at mail.utexas.edu>
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 12:10 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) Zeta Aurigids? etc.


> On each of the nights I was observing Geminids, I saw a couple
> of very short (less than 5 degrees), slowish meteors within
> the main part of Auriga (very roughly RA 05:30, Dec +40) that
> were clearly not going in the right direction to be Geminids.
> (They were perpendicular or even going toward northern Gemini.)
> I wonder if they might have been Zeta Aurigids.
>
> http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/zeta_aurigids.html
>
> However, I also wonder if z. Aurigids may be anthelion meteors,
> though these seemed perhaps somewhat too far north for that.
>
> 2. One of the very best meteors those two evenings was a -4 on
> Dec 12/13, long and very fast, with a nice wake or train, that
> traveled from east to west (right to left) about halfway up
> the sky.  It seemed like an earth-grazer.  I was facing pretty
> near due north.
>
> 3. One of the ones I marked as a Geminid was fairly near the
> GEM radiant was short and had a wake or train that widened to
> make it into a nearly isoceles triangle as it ended, with the
> short side at the front, where it ended.  It seemed notable.
>
> 4. The night of Dec. 12/13 my lifetime total passed 3,000
> meteors.  More than half of them have been Leonids (mainly
> 2001).  I'm very pleased to have been able to see so many
> meteors and really appreciate all that I've been learning via
> Meteorobs and the IMO, AMS, NAMN, DMS, ALPO, etc.  Thank you
> very much!
>
> Ed Cannon - ecannon at mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA