(meteorobs) pre 1910 references to early radio and the possibility of meteor radio signatures

drobnock drobnock at penn.com
Sun Mar 22 13:09:46 EDT 2009


Researching early "wireless" (radio)  related journals,  I came across
an early reference  to the possibility of meteors being a noise source.
The one reference from 1902 may be one of the earliest to raise the
question of meteors being an electromagnetic source.

The background of this search is to see if radios of the day (between
1897 to 1910) had the capability to detect a large fireball such as the
Tunguska event of 1908. If so did operators make the connection  between
meteors and VLF signatures?

In 1902 J. E. Taylor  wrote a piece called "Characteristics
of Electric-Earth Disturbances and their Origins," Proceedings of the
Royal
Society of London . The paper discusses "ionization" as it relates to
the upper
atmosphere and the indication this ionization produces the auroras.

The discussion mentions wireless communications and the use of a
telephone
receiver (connected to the circuit) to hear the electromagnetic
signatures (noise).

Taylor mentions five noise classes, one (Type  IV) being a "rocket
noise."  The rocket noise have a high velocity and rapid dampening,
because of its swift nature it is compared to and associated with the
passage of a meteor.

Taylor goes on to state "...meteoric bodies which set up electrical
discharges in the upper rarefied atmosphere, these discharges
introducing electrical currents in the sea and collected from by the
circuit." Within the text it is thought the term "sea" is the atmosphere
and the "circuit" the wireless receiver.

He also mentions one noise,   identified  as a (Type V) that can not be
heard on the
telephone lines but can be detected with a wireless receiver.

For a source of information on ionization of the atmosphere, Taylor
mentions  a paper from 1901 by  J. J. Thomson, who discusses the
ionization of the upper atmosphere and the creation of electrical stress
with in the atmosphere.  Thomson is the discover of the ion and the
ionization of gas.

It appears the discussion of an ionized atmosphere was on the mind of
some as a result of the earlier paper by Thomson.  The publication
"Nature"  20 December 1900, contained  a discussion that was lead by J.
J. Thomson on his experiments with a mixture of Hydrogen and Chlorine
gas exposed to sun light. Inside a glass tube containing the mixture of
gas and with a small gold leaf electroscope he set up an  experiment  to
see if free ions were released from the gas by exposure to sunlight. In
doing so the electroscope reacted to the free ions showing a discharge
of the electroscope..

By 1910 and 1911,  W. C. Eccles, with an introduced by  John Ambrose
Fleming,   was discussing the recording of "Electrical Waves Occurring
in Nature."  Today this would have been the effects of ionization and
seferics on communications.

His observation window as July 26 to August 31, 1910 and a few months
after Halley's Comet excitement. Interesting the period for the Perseid
meteors is during these dates. He was doing his wireless experiments to
identify "vagrant" signals that interfered with communications.

In North America during the Perseids of 1910, the skies were cloudy,
but in England the skies were clear. There is a claim from the UK of a
bright meteor (fireball?) and a claim of 250 meteors per hour. (review
the NASA/Harvard site for related information)

It is not know if Eccles recorded the Perseids, but it is of interest
that on
some days during his experiment,  he had a high percentage of
occurrences of
registering natural noise this high occurance was probably lightning
(sferics) and not the Perseids..

There is no conclusion  piece  as  it is a work in progress, but I did
want to share the early mention of meteors possibly being a noise source
for early radio to the group.



George John Drobnock






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