{Robert}>>>While out watching this morning I plotted 5 meteors from
a radiant near
Zeta Tauri. This most certainly appears to be connected to the
other
Taurid radiants seen by several observers the past two weeks.
I noticed something this morning that I should have picked up on
the
first time I sighted this radiant. Plots this morning revealed
the
radiant to be just west of the position of the summer solstice,
or where
the sun is positioned on June 21 every year. It then dawned on
me (duh)
that the Earth's apex will lie at this spot next week at the Autumnal
Equinox. Out of curiosity I calculated the precise location of
the
Earth's apex for this morning and it was at 82 (5:28) +23. The
Taurid
radiant for this morning was estimated at 83 (5:32) +22.
It appears to me that we have been following activity from the apex
source (90 degrees west of the sun) which is well known to experienced
observers but often evades sleepy-heads like me. This activity
occurs
year-round but is probably best seen in the Northern Hemisphere
during
September as the steep angle presented this time of year allows
it to
climb very high in the sky before dawn interferes.
So much for another new radiant discovery!
________________________________
{Juergen Rendtel}>>>>Such apparently enhanced activity will occur
within each shower.
I do not have data from September 7, but from several other nights
in September. All plots were analysed with the VISDAT program,
i.e. direction, trail length, angular velocity are considered
for the shower association. The number of Delta-Aurigids varies
from one interval to the next. So I found a series of 5 shower
meteors within 20 minutes on Sep 13 (radiant about 60 deg high,
LM 6.2), and other hour long intervals with no shower meteor.
A casual observer will get completely different impressions,
of course, particularly, because all but one of these 5 meteors
were brighter than +3. A similar sereis happened on September 15.
Furthermore, a major source of sporadic meteors (apex region)
may line up with the radiant of the Delta-Aurigids for many
meteors. Since these meteors also enter the Earth's atmosphere
at high speed, they resemble the Delta-Aurigids in their general
appearance - one of the reasons for making plottings when no
major shower is active.
Last but not least, I want to mention that the automated video
system, which runs every clear night for about 8 hours, has not
recorded any increase of rates in all September nights so far
(i.e. all nights except 6/7 and 7/8 Sep). This also indicates,
that the observation shows a statistical fluctuation rather
than the signature of a dense stream region.
Good luck with further observations!
Juergen Rendtel
IMO President
--
******************************************************************
James Wray wrote:
Regarding the Apex meteors:I just hate being ignorant, but after all these years I should at least be
starting to get used to it by now... I can't seem to figure out how the
apex thing works. Would Kim or someone please take a moment and explain
for me the mechanics of this. I can imagine a sort of statistical trend
from the direction of the Earth's motion, (eg more meteors in the morning
than in the evening) but since things aren't just standing still out there
waiting for us to zoom through them, I can't easily imagine a sharp radiant
there. Is this what is being referred to, or have I missed the point
entirely? Is this some sort of Earth specific NEO family or a chance
encounter thing? Since I think I may have seen some of these things myself
I would greatly appreciate a bit (or a lot) of an education on this subject.Much Appreciate hearing from those who have seen the light on this.
Cheers
Jim Wray
----------------------------
At 05:04 AM 9/17/99 -0400, Kim S. Youmans wrote:
> It was not too bad a night, with overall rates of 15 per hr, and 2
>DAU's, 2 SPI's, and two probable apex meteors. 09-16/17-99
> Treutlen Co, Ga.
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