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Re: (meteorobs) Distance to meteor ?
At 01:50 PM 11/1/98 -0500, you wrote:
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>I have some basic questions:
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>I am wondering about the variables and distances a meteor is from the
>observer. If a meteor is directly overhead then it is about 100 plus
>kilometers from the observer if that is the height to the edge of the
>ionosphere at that certain moment? If a meteor shower radiant is 15
>degrees above the horizon then what are distance parameters to individual
>meteors?
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>For examaple: If I observe the Leonids when the radiant is 15 degrees
>above the horizon then how close could a Leonid ever get to me in terms of
>miles/kilometers?
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>Are there explanations of this anywhere on the web?
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>Tom Ashcraft
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>Tom,
Sounds alittle like a spherical geometry problem to me, I guess you are
essentially looking through more atmosphere in this case. Try adding the
radius of the earth to the 100+kms and then multiply this value by (1/cos
15deg.)
This may give you a rough idea.
Ofcourse, there are many other variables at play:
mass of the meteor
velocity of meteor
angle of entry into atmosphere
certain irridium communication satellites which probably should'nt be in
the atmosphere in the first place
etc, etc
Mark Mikutis
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References: