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(meteorobs) Radiant Outside the FOV
My observation of October 9/10 where I ended Taurid observations during the
last hour opened up a discussion between myself and Bob Lunsford on our two
tactics for these instances. In a nutshell, when the radiant is outside my
FOV, I end my observations while Bob continues his. Since there has been
some interest on this topic from others on the list, Bob and I wanted to
forward the following to the list.
We hope someone finds it of help!
Mark Davis
MeteorObs@charlestondot net
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MD> If The Taurid radiants are outside your field, it is possible that you
MD> will miss the begin point of a suspected Taurid. Therefore, you have no
MD> reliable estimate on its path length. If the velocity and direction favor a
MD> Taurid, what's to say the path length wasn't of such a length that if
you MD> had seen it, you would not have classified it as a Taurid during
your later
MD> analysis. Since you did not see the entire path, you have now classified
a MD> chance aligned meteor as a Taurid. With the only parameters being path
MD> direction, velocity, and path length to use in classifying a plotted
meteor, MD> it seems that ignoring 1/3 of the parameters would lead to too
many possible MD> errors.
BL> I believe that you can reliably determine shower association without
BL> seeing the whole meteor. The velocity can be estimated (slow-medium-fast)
BL> without seeing the entire meteor. If you see a slow to medium speed
BL> meteor come from an area out of your FOV, but still from the general
BL> area of the Taurids, the odds are better than 50/50 that the meteor is a
BL> Taurid.
>
BL> I recall when Dave Holman and I watch the Leonids from the Mojave Desert
BL> last year. We were both facing toward Leo yet I could still determine
BL> which meteors out of the west were sporadic and which were Taurids. Dave
BL> was somewhat astonished about this but it was no big deal to trace the
BL> path backwards to Taurus. A cord approximately 2-3 feet long would help
BL> someone with these shower associations.