[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: (meteorobs) WG-PACM Alert: Beta Cygnids Nov. 1-8
Ron, especially since all the meteors you describe were very close to the
"potential" radiant, with a geocentric velocity of 17kps, they would have
had to be close to the slowest you have ever seen. Alignment with the
radiant is not enough, especially with a suspected very minor shower that
would produce such slow meteors. If they had been seen 40 degrees away,
then moderate would be a possible overstatement of the speed, but at those
distances I think not. By the way, Taurids are also slow meteors (~28 kps),
noticably slow. Any with 17kps velocity should have really impressed you
with their speed, since that is getting very close to the slowest possible
for any meteor (11 kps). A similar situation exists with the Draconids,
which are even slower, IIRC, when we will need to exercise extreme care in
identifying them next year. It takes a lot of meteors to get a real good
feel for the slow end of meteor velocities. Now fast ones are much easier,
since the Leonids will be putting on a demo of fastest possible speeds very
shortly :->>>> Duck!!
Just some thought on identifying minor shower members
Wayne