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(meteorobs) unexpected strong meteor shower Oct. 18.1UT
David Moore of Astronomy Ireland <ai@iol.ie> has asked me to post the
following observation. If you want to respond, please cc your message to
David as he's not a meteorobs subscriber.
Malcolm
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I am the editor of UK/Irish news-stand magazine ASTRONOMY & SPACE magazine
(circulation 11,000 monthly) and an experienced amateur astronomer for over
20 years.
On Sunday morning 1998 October 18 from 01:10UT to 01:25UT (15 minutes) I
counted 10 meteors all of which seemed to be pointing back to the Perseid
radiant (which was near the zenith), though they may have been radiating
from a point even further over in the east.
The site (53.0N, 6.4W, 140m above sea level) was extremely dark skies deep
in the mountains south of Dublin, Ireland. Limiting magnitude was not
accurately estimated but based on sky transparency and 'experience' I'd say
it was 6.5 +/-0.5. No clouds. Perfect conditions. One of the best nights
I've seen, ever. Lay on bonnet of car looking into zenith so no part of
field of vision obstructed. Temperature -1 deg C.
At best, only one of them was NOT pointing back in the same direction, from
memory. If correct this is an hourly rate of perhaps 40! If the radiant was
lower then the ZHR is very high!
I looked at the 1998 IMO calendar and saw that the Orionids peaked early in
1993 Oct. 17-18 with a bit of an outburst. Could this be a repeat of that
event? If so, the Orionid Radiant was only 33 degrees up so ZHR approx. 80!
I was observing with our book review editor Michael Murphy. He kept a
casual count including my 15 minute watch and noted 22 as we went about our
astrophotography projects - testing Fuji's Superia 400 for review in A&S.
To our shame we did no 'science' other than the 15 minute count and ignored
the shower for the rest of the night until dawn around 6h UT.
What alerted us to the shower was that we do not get to such dark skies
often and while lying on the car bonnet taking in the spectacle of the milky
way overhead I saw a meteor. Then I saw another in less than one minute.
Thinking this unusual and trying to guess the probability of the event I
decided to keep watch for a couple of minutes just to make certain there was
nothing 'funny' going on, but I saw a third within a minute or two and
realised THERE WAS something 'funny' going on and did the 15 minute count.
I had a mobile phone with me and if the IMO had a number (anywhere in the
world) I would have rung!
I am very interested to know if anyone else saw anything similar as I will
be publishing an account in A&S magazine. If you get anything submitted to
you about this event I'd be grateful if you would forward a copy to ai@iol.ie.
Regards and clear skies!
--------------------------------------------------------
David Moore BSc FRAS
Editor "ASTRONOMY & SPACE" magazine (U.K. & Ireland)
Snail: Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Tel: (01) 459 8883 [Intl: +353-1-459 8883]
Fax: (01) 459 9933 [Intl: +353-1-459 9933]
email: ai@iol.ie
WWW: www.iol.ie/~ai
NEWSLINES: Ireland: 1550-111-442 U.K.: 0891-88-1950
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