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(meteorobs) More of Lew's "Trying Meteor Questions"
Lew wrote:
> After all, shower association depends not just on path and
> speed, but also on the observed LENGTH of the meteor's
> path - which we may not be seeing all of! Any thoughts on
> this?
The recommendations for shower association of IMO say that the meteor should not
be longer than about half its distance to the suspected radiant. It's an upper
limit, hence. The ratio 1:2 is derived from exact path length calculations
applying average meteor heights---it was chosen to be a helpful tool in shower
association, avoiding sophisticated calculations or tables. It is of course not
valid (the ratio 1:2) when the radiant is very low above the horizon---then
meteors can be as long as their distance to the radiant (distance means radiant
to start point of the meteor).
Rainer
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Rainer Arlt -- Visual Commission Director
International Meteor Organization
visual@imodot net
Home page of IMO: http://www.imodot net
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