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Re: (meteorobs) Sporadic Flux Variations



No, Mark, Lew, Kevin and I invite YOU to join US for some REAAL frosty 
mornings up here :->
It'll bring back memories of the Blue Ridge!
Wayne
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Original Text
From: Mark Davis <MeteorObs@charlestondot net>, on 9/23/96 7:46 PM:
To: <meteorobs@latradedot com>

At 10:49 AM 9/23/96 -0400, Wayne wrote:
>Lew,
>Well my intuitive guess would be that it consists of the flux of dust that 
>has settled near the plane of the solar system. The regular "ecliptic" 
>showers (Sagittarids, Taurids, etc) are what we plow into with our 
>revolutionary motion around the sun (mostly medium velocity as we perceive 
>them). The rest of the junk that hasn't settled into the plane yet ( 
>retaining cyclical motion up and down or in and out still disapating it's 
>initial heliocentric motion) will have a location and velocity 
distribution 
>in a near Gaussian curve relative to this...And I believe it fits the 
>general profile of sporadics. Well that's what my brain came up with. 
>Anyone who knows what they are talking about care to give their opinion?

There are several different opinions on the make-up of the sporadic
background one being they are individual meteoroids that have been 
disburbed
by gravity or collision into their orbit. Another idea is that some are
actually meteor showers, but with activity too low to detect.

Lew asked:
>And how are visual observers' data being used to test these theories?

The IMO is currently working on magnitude and rate studies and there have
been a few other researchers publishing results lately on various aspects 
of
the sporadic flux. Something often overlooked by new observers is the fact
that valuable observations may be made even when no major shower is active.
For IMO to accomplish the above studies, many observations will be 
required.
And these will have to be carried out all during the year, not just during
the warmer months and major shower periods. I invite everyone to "join" me
on those cold, frosty, January/February observing sessions!

Mark Davis
MeteorObs@charlestondot net