(meteorobs) Re: Meteors or not?

[Robert Lunsford]

Dear Phil and All,

Being an experienced observer, it certainly sounds as if you witnessed a 
telescopic meteor shower. While there was a major meteor shower occurring 
Friday, the Orionid radiant was below the horizon for most of your session. 
This and the fact you mention these objects were moving southward would rule 
out the Orionids as a source of this activity.

You stated the larger objects went through your field in a northeast 
direction, in nearly an opposite direction of a majority of the objects. 
This is a bit puzzling as if they were related, they should have all been 
moving through your field of view in the same direction.

I'm no expert on telescopic meteor activity. I have seen an occasional 
meteor zip through the field of my telescope, but nothing close to what you 
have described. I am going to leave it for the experts to guess as to what 
you may have witnessed.

Clear Skies!

Bob Lunsford


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Verish" <bolidechaser at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 9:14 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) Fwd: Meteors or not?


> 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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