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Re: (meteorobs) micrometeorites????
I have been conducting a micrometeorite gathering program off and on since
last March. My technique has been to set a well slide outside for a 24 hour
period and then counting the spherical objects present. Early on I was
allowed to use a confocal (sp?) microscope in one of the medical labs here
at the medical school I work at to look at the objects. I discovered that
an apparent excessive outburst around the time of the Eta Aquarids in early
May, was partially composed of what was probably pollen. Thereafter my
counts were more accurate.
The reason my study has been on and off is because I don't bother with
counts if it rains, snows, or if there is excessive wind. This eliminated a
lot of days last year. :-) Even worse, the last half of November and
virtually all of December were terrible for this sort of work, as well as
normal observing.
Overall, in 1996 I got decent coverage of the Eta Aquarids, the daytime
Arietids of June, and the Perseids. Notable increases in the numbers of
objects I was identifying as micrometeorites occurred between 24 to 36
hours after the actual maximums in visual activity.
Gary W. Kronk