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Re: (meteorobs) Hooked



Kevin,

The direction a meteor comes from makes a BIG difference. In fact that
is the primary way we meteor observers determine if it came from the
meteor shower we think it came from, or whether it is a member of
another meteor shower, which just may occur around the same time of
year. This point in the sky where shower meteors come from, is called
the "radiant". Or, if it doesnt come from any known radiant, it is a
"sporadic" or random meteor, unassociated with any meteor stream, as I
explained before.

So, your meteor coming from the east, may very well have been an early
Geminid. When you see one, try your best to trace its path backward in
the sky to see if it came close to the radiant. The Geminids radiant is
very close to the star "Castor", which is the upper one of the 2
brightest stars in Gemini, looking east in the evenings now, when Gemini
is rising. At 7:30pm, when you saw the meteor, Castor was very low in
the NE, so that condition does not favor seeing Geminids, but its
possible!

Thats why it gets much better for Geminid viewing later in the night, as
the radiant rises high overhead.

Have fun next week!
Mike.


Willie Carr wrote:
> 
> Sorry for the mistake, but the meteor was coming from the EAST. It may not
> make a difference though. Sorry again.
> 
> M Linnolt wrote:
> 
> > > 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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> 
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