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re: (meteorobs) Those pesky path lengths
At 10:09 AM 8/8/97 EDT, you wrote:
> Indeed. But what provide the deliminator here is the speed. A near
>stationary meteor 45 degrees from the Perseid radiant cannot be a Perseid.
>At that distance it should be flying! 4 or 5 on the NAMN scale.
Yup, Wayne, that's a good point: speed will often be the determinant. But
it won't cover all situations... Say I see a BRIGHT meteor (e.g., mag 0),
which is very clearly "speed 4" (faster than average) on the NAMN scale. If
it's 10o in length, but 50o from the Perseid radiant, I would feel mighty
funny calling it a PER even if it was pointing right at the radiant... How
is it geometrically POSSIBLE for a shower member that far from the radiant
to be so SHORT? For if it's mag 0, then there's no way I'm missing length
from the initial or final parts of the trail - at least not due to
faintness... And if my DCV is 0o or 10o, then it's pretty unlikely my
starting point for the trail is 15o off!
Coincidentally, this ain't just an academic question: I've seen 4+ meteors
the last two nights that I strongly hesitate calling "PERs" for this
reason. As our baby-sitter, old Mrs. Harvey, used to say: "It's a puzzler,
son!" :)
Clear skies all!
Lew, praying to the sky gods nightly
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