(meteorobs) Fw: Draconid Meteor Watch

Bruce McCurdy bmccurdy at telusplanet.net
Mon Oct 8 12:24:55 EDT 2007


    Two items of interest for meteor aficionados on the most recent post 
from spaceweather's news service. I find the question "Could tonight be such 
a night?" somewhat disingenuous, as it has already been answered in the 
preceding statement about "the source of the shower".

    I did play around with the Java applet linked to the spaceweather 
website (click on "far away" to open the applet, and change the rate from 1 
day to 1 year to see the comet's position just on the date of the shower). I 
noted with particular interest the proximity of Giacobini-Zinner in 2018 
when, believe it or not, the Moon will be new on Oct. 9.

    Bruce
    *****


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "SpaceWeather.com" <swlist at spaceweather.com>
To: "SpaceWeather.com" <swlist at spaceweather.com>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 9:43 AM
Subject: Draconid Meteor Watch


> Space Weather News for Oct. 8, 2007
> http://spaceweather.com
>
> METEOR WATCH:  The annual Draconid meteor shower peaks on Oct. 9th at 0430 
> UT--in other words, tonight at 9:30 pm PDT or 12:30 am EDT. Don't expect a 
> big display. The source of the shower, comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, is far 
> away and unlikely to produce more than a few slow meteors every hour. It 
> should be noted, however, that unexpected Draconid outbursts have happened 
> as recently as Oct. 2005 resulting in dozens to hundreds of meteors per 
> hour. Could tonight be such a night? If you decide to look, keep an eye on 
> the northern sky (Draco is not far from the north celestial pole)  during 
> the hours around the predicted peak.
>
> PERUVIAN METEORITE UPDATE:  Astronomers studying the Peruvian meteorite 
> fall of Sept. 15, 2007, have analyzed infrasound records of the fireball's 
> descent through Earth's atmosphere and estimated the impactor's kinetic 
> energy: about 0.03 kton of TNT.  So far more than 30 kg of the meteorite 
> have been recovered by Peruvian authorities, but much more 
> remains--indeed, says one researcher, there could be a "multi-ton monster" 
> hiding at the bottom of the meteorite's curiously watery crater.  Check 
> http://spaceweather.com for more information.
>
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