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(meteorobs) FWD: meteors Nov 7
[Forwarded for Juergen Rendtel <jrendtel@aipdot de>:]
Robert Lunsford wrote:
> A possible outburst was reported on the night of November 6/7 from the
> constellation of Monoceros. While chatting with Sirko Molau Saturday
> about this possibility I examined my plots from that night and noticed
> that 4 meteors formed a tight radiant near Alpha Monocerotis (114 -9).
> There were two other meteors that were also only 5 degrees off and could
> possibly be related. Upon looking at the coordinates given by Mr. Trigo
> (111 +9) I was surprised to notice that the position he quoted is in
> Canis Minor, just north of the bright star Procyon. Are the
> constellation boundaries different in Spain or is there a possible
> misunderstanding of the radiant position?
>
The point at 111 +9 is definitely in Canis Minor. Monoceros is only
west of 106 deg. I received the files with Trigo's plots - there is
no misunderstanding.
> I did check Mr. Trigo's quoted position and noticed 3 meteors formed a
> very loose radiant on the 6/7. There was also one possible meteor seen
> on the previous morning that came from this area. This is well within
> what is expected from any area of the sky on a normal night.
>
Unfortunately, I had bad weather on Nov 7. I was able to observe in
the mornings of Nov 4 and Nov 8 from Potsdam, Germany. Here are my
results:
On Nov 4, there were still several Orionids. Since my observing
field was northeast of Orion, there are some Orionids which
could also fit with the `Monocerotids'. However, it was not
mentioned how fast the meteors from the radiant during Trigo's
observation were. So IF they are comparatively to the Orionids,
it would be very difficult to distinguish them from my plots.
If they were rather slow, there could be 2 candidates.
1997 Nov 4: 0058-0304 UT, 2.00hrs T_eff, LM 6.17
ORI 6
STA 2
NTA 1
SPO 15 - 2 possible Mon IF they are slow meteors (best fit 25 km/s)
I observed again on Nov 8, but none of my plots fits with the radiant.
1997 Nov 8: 0318-0440 UT, 1.30hrs T_eff, LM 6.12
STA 2
NTA 3
SPO 10 - no Mon candidate (obs. field north of the radiant in Gem)
> George Zay has a valid point that the Orionid radiant is close to Mr.
> Trigo's position and the possibility exists that he observed activity
> from the Orionids. Both George and I reported activity from the Orionids
> on the night in question although nowhere as strong as the rates seen by
> Mr. Trigo.
The field of view indeed determines the possibility to distinguish
between meteors of both sources, as mentioned above. However, the
plots of Trigo during his observation are well distributed `around'
the suspected radiant, and the radiant is surprisingly sharp.
Whether we will be able to find other observational reports or not,
this event shows that we may well miss a number of short-term
activity during the year. Hence any regular meteor observation
has its value.
Juergen Rendtel
IMO President