(meteorobs) Unusual Eta Taurid (ETT) Activity?

Robert Lunsford lunro.imo.usa at cox.net
Thu Oct 22 17:33:18 EDT 2015


Bruce and All,

Actually the two radiants are over an hour apart in RA and 7 degrees in declination. An experience observer facing toward this area of the sky should have no trouble separating these meteors. The velocity for the ETT's would be at least 15km/sec faster than what George reported so I believe these two radiants are different. 

George's RA of 2.3 was not clear to me. I took it to be 2.3 hours which would correspond to 2:18. The position of the Southern Taurids on that night was 2:40 +12. This is only 4 degrees from George's position of 2:18 +15. If I was out that night I would have called these meteors Southern Taurids.

Examining the IMO video data for 10/21, I found a weak STA subradiant located at 2:12 +17, which is very close to George's reported position. Perhaps this subradiant was extraordinarily active this night?  

Robert Lunsford


---- Bruce McCurdy <bmccurdy at shaw.ca> wrote: 
> Any possibility these Eta Taurids correspond to the Autumn Arietids reported
> by George? The radiants are not that far apart. 
> 
> Bruce
> *****
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
> [mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Robert Lunsford
> Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 5:59 PM
> To: Meteor science and meteor observing
> Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Unusual Eta Taurid (ETT) Activity?
> 
> Paul and All,
> 
> I just received observations from Oct, 21 by veteran observer Terrence Ross
> who indicated he counted 9 Eta Taurids during 4 hours of viewing. This is
> not as strong as the rates you observed but indicates the source is still
> active. I believe these meteors have always been there this time of year but
> were called sporadics as no one knew of this radiant until recently. It will
> be interesting to continue to monitor this source from year to year to see
> if the activity continues. 
> 
> Robert Lunsford 
> 
> 
> ---- Paul Zeller <pzeller1966 at gmail.com> wrote: 
> >   Hello all. I had a couple of hours of predawn observing this morning 
> > (Sunday Oct. 18) from my back yard with very clear skies (LM = 5.2). 
> > Though I was primarily looking for Orionid activity, and saw a few, 
> > what really got my attention was that from 7:30 - 8:30 UT I saw four 
> > meteors that seemed to be members of the Eta Taurids. Three appeared 
> > within the same ten minute time span. They seemed to be the right 
> > speed and could be traced back to the area shown as the radiant on 
> > Robert Lunsford's latest Meteor Activity Outlook article. The shower 
> > description seemed to indicate that only one or less should be seen 
> > and that maximum activity is still six nights away. Has anyone else 
> > noticed an unusually high number of these meteors from this shower?
> > 
> >   Paul Zeller
> >   Indianapolis, IN, USA
> 
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