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Re: (meteorobs) "Meteorite Streams"
Steve,
It seems from a reading of this, what he was implying was that these
were streams that deposited
meteorites on the earth's surface, which in general meteor showers do not.
I assume that the choice of terminology is what is confusing the issue.
In the beginning, the release refers to "meteorite" streams. That's OK,
I guess. Unfortunatly, later it refers to meteoroid streams, which would
be the same as what we call meteor showers, or annual meteor streams. The
definition he uses later, describing a meteoroid stream as a group of rocky
fragments that are derived from the breakup of a near-earth object, would
be similar to that, although most (not necessarily all) annual meteor
showers are derived from material "shed" by a comet or asteroid without
breaking up.
As far as I know all the showers active during this period (Piscids,
Aurigids, Taurids, etc) are suspected to be derived from cometary sources,
wheras to drop meteorites, it is likely that they be asteroidal (rocky) in
origin, and be most active during the evening hours (which would allow them
to approach the earth from behind at a slow velocity relative to the
earth).Of course, not having read the paper, and not being aware of the
orbital elements (if any) that he calculated, this is just speculation. I
can see that during my vacation, I'll have to be finding myself a copy of
the Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets somewhere :-). Since I'm still
somewhat "orbitally challenged", I would defer any interpretation of these
aspects to those more competent in the field. Calling Mr Kronk?? :->
Just my 3 cents worth...
Wayne