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Re: (meteorobs) Hooked
> BTW--i don't know whether it was a Geminid or not. It was only about
> 7:35 pm here in Virginia. It seemed to come from the West
>
Kevin,
That meteor was not a Geminid. The Geminid radiant would be very low in
the EAST, at that time, so any meteor coming from the west would be a
"sporadic", which is a term for a meteor that comes from random dust
particles in the path of earth orbit, and not coming from any particular
meteor stream associated with a shower. Under dark, moonless skies, you
would see an average of around 6 sporadics per hour, more in the morning
hours than the evening hours, because then the spot you are standing on
the earth is facing into the direction of the earths motion, which
enhances the chance of "hitting" some of these sporadic dust particles.
So, imagine on Monday night, you will be seeing maybe 100 of such
meteors per hour, with a few spectacular bright bolides thrown in to the
mix!
Get ready for the show!
Mike
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