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(meteorobs) radio vs. visual meteor counts



Hi everyone,

I just posed the following question in a private email to Michael Boschat,
regarding his radio observations of the Lyrids, but I thought it might also
be a query of general interest to the whole list:

Hi Micheal,

Thanks for your emails and the radio data.  I understand that the visual
meteors seen from a given location are not caused by exactly the same
meteoroids as the ones which give rise to radio "pings".  The latter are
located somewhere over the horizon, situated between you and the
transmitter.  My question in an earlier email was intended to be more
general:  If you were able to see, say, 30 shooting stars/hr from your
observing site, would you expect to record a comparable number by radio
forward scattering, or many more?  I've read estimates that radio
observations of the sort you conducted are sensitive to meteors with
equivalent visual brightnesses ranging from 8th to 15th magnitude.  If
that's the case then one would expect many more radio "pings" during a
given observing session than visual sightings.  Do you have any experience
on this point?

Thanks again for all your help.  Regards, Tony  

====================================================
Dr. Tony Phillips        phillips@spacesciences.com

VISIT     http://www.SpaceWeather.com  
          http://www.StarTrails.com
          http://www.SouthPole.com

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