[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

(meteorobs) sound

>>>... Has anyone recorded some of these "booms" and found out approximate
HZ 
ranges for them?  I know last week someone had talked about a tape of 
sounds. I just read an article in Scientific American on constructing a low

frequency recorder and was thinking it may be able to be used to detect 
daytime "booms".  Are any of these sounds available in a .au format that 
could be downloaded off the net of attached to e-mail?  Also, does anyone
on 
the list record sunspot activity and could send a note of an impending 
aurora borealis peak?

                              Thanks,
                                   1st
...<<<

Hi 1st,

There is actually an .au file of a meteoric boom that I believe the Dutch
meteor observers can guide you to. 

If you ever witness a fireball large enough to make a sonic boom it is
important to be patient and listen acutely for some minutes after---maybe
even as long as ten minutes.  I have seen some space shuttle re-entries
(manmade fireballs) and if I didn't know to wait for many minutes then I
would surely miss the distinctive boom it creates.

The US government operates an infra-sound detecting system that monitors
any and all booms that make seismic activities. Some booms they can
identify as meteoric if there are corroborating fireball reports.

Regarding sunspots:  I have been recording/drawing daily sunspot activity
for the past six years with a refractor. You can keep abreast of sun
activity nicely if you have a short wave radio.   You can tune into the WWV
universal time station which gives a solar-geomagnetic activity report each
hour at exactly 18 minutes after the hour. The report is updated every
three hours. WWV can be received at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz on the short
wave dial.   You have to keep close watch on solar developments as there is
a phenomena called a "coronal mass ejection" that will often cause solar
storming that makes for aurorae. These "CMEs" are not sunspot dependent and
can happen at any point in the solar cycle.  We have been in relative
sunspot minimum for the past couple of years yet there have been numerous 
coronal mass ejection induced geo-magnetic storms. 

There are many good places on the web for daily solar info.  I get my
reports by ftp direct from NOAA.   ftp.sel.noaadot gov 

Good luck!

Tom Ashcraft   New Mexico