(meteorobs) Re: Meteor Shower Question

To: meteorobs@latrade.com
Subject: (meteorobs) Re: Meteor Shower Question
From: hblack@pacifier.com (Holly Black)
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 1997 09:15:39 -0800
Reply-To: meteorobs@latrade.com
Sender: owner-meteorobs

I also asked my question in other places  on the net and got the following
answer:

>Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 18:27:10 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Ramanuj Basu <rbasu@ccodot caltechdot edu>
>Sender: rbasu@ccodot caltechdot edu
>To: "Holly H. Black" <hblack@pacifier.com>
>Subject: Re: Meteor Shower Question
>Organization: Caltech Public Events
>X-URL: http://wwwdot caltechdot edu/~tickets/
>X-UIDL: 59b1d3f823a95e7b03a720f4e42f72f3
>
>On Tue, 8 Apr 1997, you wrote:
>
>> Please ask your emenent speakers and moderators if the comet 
>> will create a meteor shower, and if so when will it happen? 
>> And what part of the sky by the time the earth gets to the 
>> place where the comet is now.
>
>The following reply was sent to me today by Ron Baalke at JPL, the
>maintainer of the comet's "home page" on the Web, at:
>
>	http://www.jpl.nasadot gov/comet/
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 21:39:29 GMT
>From: Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasadot gov>
>
>Alan Hale thinks it is a possibility and mentions this in his book, but
>it is a very unlikely event.  The orbit of Comet Hale-Bopp and the Earth
>don't intersect, a prerequisite for meteor showers.  However, they do
>come close, about 0.1 AU (or about 9 millions miles).  The Earth passes
>by this closest point in January.  So for a meteor show to occur
>from the comet, the dust particles would have to drift 9 millions from
>the comet's orbit, not a likely event.  To complicate matters further,
>there already exists a major meteor shower in January.
>
>

I have a friend who talks with great fondness of his time at THE Rad lab at
MIT during world war II.
He was amazed that with in a few doors of his office he could find someone
to answer  almost any question he could think of.  And I suddently feel I
have found something similar in the computer on my desk hooked to the internet.
WOW and thank you.
=================================
Tact: To make  your guests feel at h ome even though you wish they were.
            *Try a new meal out on company.  Perhaps a stir-fry party, where
every one can help.

(from "I AM TO YOUNG TO BE THIS OLD" daily calendar