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Re: (meteorobs) Re: Aries-Triangulids



At 05:41 PM 10/05/98 -0700, Bob Lunsford wrote:
>Malcolm,
>
>I was curious if you knew about the reports from Gliba, Kronk, and
>Sleeter before or after you noticed this activity on your own charts?
>
>Your article convinced my that the 1994 display was real...
[snip]

>We also have a similar situation occurring in mid-June with the Xi
>Draconids.... The June Lyrid activity has been next to nothing for the
last >10 years or so but suddenly in 1994 independent observations from
Europe and >America recorded this new radiant in Draco. Once again rates
the following >years have been lean but much more active than the June Lyrids.

[snip]

>...there should be a call for action to help verify such activity using
every >means possible including plotting, photography, and video.
>
>This situation also exists in early February for the Xi Bootids, and
>near June 28 for the June Bootids.

This is interesting to myself, as I'm wondering what the radio meteor
observations have been showing when the visual meteor counts have increased
or declined.

For example, throughout February and March of this year, the number of
radio meteor reflections heard during my early morning schedule with Shelby
Ennis in central Kentucky did not decrease quite as much as we expected to
happen. And then during the April Lyrids, we did not hear quite as many
"extra" reflections as we expected to occur. Further, after the Lyrids
peak, the number of reflections appeared to decrease considerably, changing
character from some long "bursts" before then to nothing but a number of
very short but sometimes intense "pings" through the early summer months.
An increase in "pings" and "bursts" leading up to the Perseids peak was
obvious but, from what we could recall during this same time period last
year, appeared to be of different "character" compared to then. For
example, while there were numerous pings and bursts over relatively-short
paths of 1000 km or so, there appeared to be far fewer than usual such
pings and bursts occurring higher in the atmosphere that allowed longer
paths such as 1600 km and longer. Then, after the Perseids, the number of
meteors reflecting our signals over our path of 1307 km has appeared to
drop drastically.

We are looking forward to "listening" to the Draconids this year although
we recognize that unless we happen to be running a schedule during
precisely the right hour, we will probably not recognize the peak when it
does occur.

Clear skies,

SteveH
Shrewsbury MA

P.S. My thoughts on the recent fracas concerning a common swear word in a
public MeteorObs posting? Yes, I *was* a mite disappointed and turned off.
But from there, I cannot believe how quickly this whole thing has
degenerated into a mud-slinging contest; apparently, there aren't many
meteors out there these days to keep us all busy instead of cussing!

And the off-topic post concerning the deep-sky thing...well, one can expect
those from time to time, particularly when someone asks a question whose
answer necessarily is so diverse that it covers a much wider range of
topics than that of the particular mailing list (and I was quite guilty of
that myself earlier this year; but everybody was polite enough to let me
run my course instead of igniting the flamethrowers). That's why I keep my
DELETE key oiled and clearly labelled. So far, it hasn't let me down when
needed.

A little tolerance is a very necessary ingredient of the constitution of
any internet mailing list subscriber. I've noticed that unless one already
happens to abundantly exercise that tolerance in one's daily life, one
tends to get a little excited from time to time during the first several
years of membership on any mailing list, not just MeteorObs. Most of us get
used to these kinds of things, however, and quickly learn when to refrain
from joining in and when to comment. It just takes some tolerance and
experience. I surely hope nobody has left the list over this incident; it's
only the first incident of its kind to occur during my own two years
hereabouts.

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