(meteorobs) Fwd: Meteors or not?

Robert Verish bolidechaser at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 26 12:14:16 EDT 2004


Phil,

What with the pending closure of the Comet and Meteor
Observing Group, you should consider posting this to
the Meteor Observers List:

<meteorobs at meteorobs.org>

Regards,
Bob V.

------------- Forward Message --------------

To: cometandmeteorobserving at yahoogroups.com 
From: philaroots76 at cox.net 
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 14:45:16 -0400 

Subject: [Comet and Meteor Observing] Meteors or not?
(long posting) 


I've just joined this group and would be grateful if
someone could tell me  whether I've stumbled across a
minor  meteor shower, or whether I'm simply able to
see things in a 2  inch 40mm eyepiece that one cannot
see in a 1.25 inch  26mm  or 24 mm EP (which I usually
use). 
Here's the situation:

On Friday night (15 October) the skies over Middle
Georgia were the clearest they've been in  several
weeks. I let my scope cool down for five hours before 
using it. This was the first time I've used a 2 inch 
40mm eyepiece with my 8 inch Dob. 

While scanning the field  between Triangulum,
Andromeda and Perseus I kept seeing  small white
things zooming across the sky. I feared that these  
were floaters in my weakening eyes; my wife and
daughter  however verified that they were seeing the
same things when they looked through the scope. In 
fact, they were so impressed  they stayed at the scope
longer than they ever have before. 

After  reminding them how cold it was outside, I was
able to reclaim  possession of the scope and let it
rest on M32 just west of Algol. Between 10:20 and
10:45 I counted 49 whitish objects zooming  either 
above, through, or beneath M32 in a southerly
direction.  Most of these objects were quiter small,
resembling the visible  stars in M32; others were 
three to four times larger and  resembled the Ring
Nebula to some extent (these tended to  shoot
northeast). Between 10:45 and 11:00 I focused on 
Algol,  but the frequency of these white flashes had
decreased. Looking  at M32 again between 11:00 and
11:15 I noticed ever fewer of  these streaks. By 
midnight I was unable to see any whatsoever.

On Saturday night the skies were somewhat cloudy, so I
did not have a crisp view of the sky. However, I was
able to see five or six meteor-like flashes 
running across M32 over a 20 minute period, but these
were fairly large objects.

By the way, none of these white streaks could be seen
in my  9x50 finderscope. They were vivid in the 2 inch
40mm and even  in the 1.25 inch 26 m.

I'm an experienced enough observer to know that these
were neither airplanes nor space stations nor
satellites. Since I was unable to replicate these
flashes anywhere else in the sky, I am pretty sure
that they cannot be attributed to some defect in my
mirrors or eyepieces. Since my neighbors were not at
home all weekend, I can also rule out sudden flashes
of light coming from windows or cars.

----------- End of Forward Message -----------

--------------- Original Message ---------------

From:  "Brian OHalloran" <qprmeteor at y...> ,
cometandmeteorobserving at yahoogroups.com
Date:  Mon Oct 25, 2004  12:48 pm 

Subject:  Closure of Comet and Meteor Observing Group

Hi everyone.

As you may have noticed, I've been unable to devote
much time to post to the group/updating the finder
charts/ephemerides etc lately, due to a severe lack of
time that is very much work related (I recently
started a postdoc position in the US, and so I have
very little free time!!!). As this is unlikely to
change in the immediate or mid-term future, I have
reluctantly decided to close the group. If anyone
wishes to take over the running of the group, please
contact me - if not, I plan to close it by the end of
the week.

Clear skies.

Brian

 




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