(meteorobs) Question about radiant drift

Bamm Gabriana bamm at upastrosoc.org
Sat Jun 5 04:35:06 EDT 2004


This is also what I had in mind. The approximation would then be

long = long0 + (sol - sol0);
lat  = lat0;

where variables that end with "0" represent the values at shower 
maximum. I feel that this would vary somewhat per shower and should 
be something like:

long = long0 + (sol - sol0) * (drift in long);
lat  = lat0  + (sol - sol0) * (drift in lat);

where (drift in long) is approximately 1 and (drift in lat) is close 
to 0.

What I need to know then is the (drift in long) and (drift in lat) 
for each shower. I believe that these can be calculated from the 
stream's orbital elements, but all I need to know are the final 
values to simplify my calculations.

Thanks and Clear Skies.

Bamm

--- In meteorobs at yahoogroups.com, "Marco Langbroek" 
<marco.langbroek at w...> wrote:
> I think a good rule of thumb would be, one degree parallel to the 
ecliptic
> for each degree in solar longitude?
> 
> - Marco
> 
> 
> 
> > Well, we've waited a couple of days and no one has jumped forward 
to help
> > with this question.  I think that most of us are a bit unsure of 
the
> theory
> > of radiant drift and that is why there is a hesitation to help.  
In other
> > words, most of us are incapable of answering the question 
properly.
> >
> > I'll take a stab at it.  It seems to me that radiant drift would 
be unique
> > to each shower because  of the shower's orbital inclination, 
whether the
> > meteor stream approached the Earth from behind or the front of 
Earth's
> path
> > in space, and the unique orbit that each meteor stream has.  I 
don't see
> how
> > a simple formula would be able to handle these features, but I'm 
waiting
> for
> > someone to tell me how they would. :-)
> >
> > After all, back in the '20s, Denning still thought that some 
radiants were
> > stationary even in the face of C. P. Olivier's theoretical 
challenges.
> Why
> > did he feel so strongly that there was no movement at all?  
Perhaps we
> need
> > a refresher on the theoretical underpinnings of radiant drift.  
Anyone
> > capable of helping us out?
> >
> >   Pete Bias
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: meteorobs-bounces at m...
> > [mailto:meteorobs-bounces at m...]On Behalf Of Bamm Gabriana
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:07 AM
> > To: meteorobs at m...
> > Subject: (meteorobs) Question about radiant drift
> >
> >
> > I just want to ask, is there a way to "compute" the
> > radiant drift of a meteor shower? What I mean is, is
> > there a formula that can be used to predict where a
> > radiant would be at a given time? From what I've read
> > it seems the radiants move along curves of
> > approximately constant ecliptic latitudes. So I may
> > just need to know the change in ecliptic longitude and
> > convert the results to RA and Dec. Thanks for any
> > explanations in advance.





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