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Re: (meteorobs) Re: NM past South Delta Aquarid rates
>Lew's advice is sound. I may add that if you can see the actual
>meteoroid itself, this would help in your estimate of speed. For short
>meteors, if you easily see the actual meteoroid then I would call it a 1
>or 2 on the numeric scale. If the meteoroid is just visible then call it
>a 3. If it is just a streak of light with no meteoroid seen then I would
>call it a 4 or 5. Actually this would probably be good advice for all
>meteors, regardless of length, for those using the numeric scale of 0-5.
By the way, just to clarify what (I think) Bob meant here: if you see the
METEOR as a "moving star", with a complete "meteor head" on it, then you
would call it a 1 or 2; if not at all (i.e., as just a "streak") then it
would be a 4 or 5; if somewhere in between, then a 3...
Obviously, the "meteor head" consists of much more than just the glowing
particle itself: I guess few of us will ever get to see any REAL meteor-
oids in our lifetime... To be even visible as a SPECK at 80 km distance,
a meteoroid particle would have to be about 150' (50m) wide, weigh maybe
100 metric tons, and might easily be as bright as the sun! :)
Clear skies all,
Lew
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