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Re: (meteorobs) Anyone else see Xi Draconids?
At 07:38 PM 07/02/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Thanks for your comments. If you could supply us with data for the month
>of June that would be great. If you have data from previous years (for
>June) that would also help. As you stated 15 minutes per day is better
>than nothing.
OK...I will organize my data and e-mail it. All it will consist of, however,
will be the following:
1. Number of "pings" (reflected signals of less than 1/2 second duration)
2. Number of "bursts" ( " " " more " "
" " )
3. Some sparse comments on signal strength
4. Some sparse comments on how the day's reflections seemed to be compared
to other days
Sparse info, I know, and the FM broadcast transmitter guys would probably
have better info. Also, I don't have data for other years. But my data will
go back to, I believe, the radio peak of the April Lyrids on or about 7
April and through today with every Sunday missing (the other station will
not schedule me on Sunday mornings for some reason) and an occasional day
missed due to oversleeping or storm activity.
>As for these radiants "jumping around year to year" I don't believe this
>is the case. I believe the June Lyrids have come and gone and that the
>Xi Draconids have taken their place.
I will include personal observations and opinions with the data but will
clearly mark them as my opinions, since I have so little experience and
understanding of meteors. I am hoping that you will have a bit of time to
comment on some of those "opinions" based on what you've seen in the data of
others and your own knowledge/understanding.
> We must recall that June is one of the least observe periods
>of the year due to the lack of truly dark skies in Canada and Europe.
Visual observers, yes...radio observers: my impression is that June begins
the radio meteor "year" for most serious meteor "jockeys. For example, the
European amateurs schedule special holidays just for the purpose of making
dozens of meteor scatter contacts. The reason is simple: the number of radio
meteors begins building starting in April and building to a peak during the
August Perseids. There are only a few days when there are few or poor
reflections while all the Europeans are out trying to make as many contacts
as possible throughout their holidays.
>I believe Xi Draconids are related to the June Lyrids and the radiant we
>now see is a result of perturbations to the material we now encounter
>each mid-June.
My data will show a week of relatively poor reflections that suddenly became
good again for several weeks, about when the Xi Draconids were being
discussed here. The characteristics of the new reflections were also
drastically different, being much shorter in duration but much more
"brilliant", indicating higher velocity. The number of reflections seemed to
increase, but this observation might have been due to an increased awareness
on my part due to accumulating some experience over the weeks that had passed.
Steve Harrison
Amateur Radio Meteor Scatter Station Ko0U/1
Shrewsbury MA