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re: (meteorobs) Fireball Rates in New Zealand
George, I think if you examine the reports, you'll find that there are only
3 or 4 New Zealand fireballs. Most are multiple sightings of the same
fireball I think. The first on Jan 31 has times from 0203 UT to 0205,
similar durations, color, etc.
The second on Apr 20 (one report)
The third on Apr 25 from 0223 to 0225 (with a 30 min train) same meteor?
A fourth on Apr 27 around 0647 many reports.
Also, since this was during the Lyrids, maybe there were many
observers...although I'm not sure where the Lyrid radiant is from New
Zealand at that hour.
Does this make sense?
Wayne
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Original Text
From GeoZay@aoldot com, on 6/27/96 9:58 AM:
To: <meteorobs@latradedot com>
Cc: <starex@tron.gundot de>
Probably most of us by now has seen the recent Fireball reports from FIDAC
for the month of June. I've noticed something about it this time that
puzzles me. Is it my imagination or does it seem that Fireball rates from
New Zealand are unusually high? Not performing any real checks on it, but
it
seems that those guys are always reporting fireballs with magnitudes with
ranges around -8 thru -15 quite frequently. One report of a -20 that was
corrected for -23 was given this time. In this report, I counted 8
fireballs
from New Zealand with magnitudes of -6 or greater while the rest of the
world
had 5. Does anybody have any ideas on why there should be more fireballs
for those guys at 38 deg South? Are their magnitudes estimates a little
high
maybe? I wonder what their mean magnitudes for any given night is? Or is
there something really going on for that location for a reason? Or is it
just
a figment of my imagination? They may be observing more, but I'm not
satisfied with that as an answer. Perhaps they are in a prime location for
a
fireball type shower?...I don't know. I wish FIDAC would call for fireballs
to show whether or not they were seen during an organized watch and for how
long? I believe this way an indication on fireball activity can be obtained
based on how long people were looking for them.
George Z.