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(meteorobs) Re: 1963 meteor outburst/storm?

A couple of weeks ago I sent an inquiry regarding a 
person's recollection of what would seem to deserve 
being called a (brief) meteor storm in 1963.  Thanks to 
Bob Lunsford for his reply and to Bruce Musson for this:

] Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 15:40:01 -0500 
] From: bruce_musson@dofascodot ca
] Subject: RE: (meteorobs) Re: 1963 meteor outburst/storm?
]
] I remember watching meteors at midnight (2 or 3 per 
] minute) in the summer/autumn of '62 or summer '63 with 
] a friend in Hamilton, Ontario.  It was before mid-August 
] of 1963....  

I was able to locate the person who wrote what I read
originally and ask for more information.  Here's what I 
read first (a question to the Web site of a radio program):

] Hearing your comments today on the Leonid meteor shower, 
] I recall an evening in 1963.  My mother got me and my 
] brother out of bed to witness what had to be one of the 
] most intense showers ever seen. The picture I recall was 
] similar to driving in a snow storm with your bright 
] headlights on.  This intensity only lasted a short while, 
] but it was difficult to actually get out from under the 
] eaves of the house.  I don't remember exactly what the 
] date was, but it must have been fall.  I could not be 
] mistaken about the year either, by 1966 I was living in 
] [another city], and this took place in Tulsa, OK, where 
] we were living at the time. 

Here's his reply to a message that I sent to him "out of
the blue":

] The shower was intense enough that the psychological 
] effect made you want to run for cover.  As I recall, it 
] looked as if all the stars in the sky were falling all 
] at once, continually for probably 15-30 min.  I was 8 
] years old, and viewing this from Tulsa, Ok., so the 
] impressions of a child may inflate things a bit, but 
] still impressive.  It would have been in late summer or 
] early fall.

In view of Bruce Musson's message, I wonder if this 
possibly could have been the other person's view of the 
1963 South Delta Aquarids or Perseids as seen by a child.  
I'm not sure what other known shower it could have been
unless it was as late in the year as the Giacobinids
(although that could not be what Bruce Musson observed
if it was in 1963).  

HomePlanet tells me that for July 28, 1963 (local time), 
the Moon was waxing gibbous, so it would have set fairly 
early.  For about two weeks later, August 12, it was of 
course waning gibbous and long gone in the late evening.

I wonder, did the person's mother accidentally see a 
meteor outburst and then wake the kids, or did she look 
for a previously publicized meteor shower, see that it 
was a really good show, and then wake her kids so they 
could see it also?  It seems to me that such an outburst 
would have at least made local newspaper or something 
like that after the fact.

I'm going to send another reply and see if he can narrow 
it down any more at all.

Now, on another topic, earlier tonight while trying to 
see the Space Shuttle and Hubble Telescope plus a few 
other satellites from outside the building where I work 
(campus of UT Austin, LM worse the +4 -- NOT an ideal 
observing location!), it kind of seemed to me that I 
might have been seeing faintly some meteors coming from 
very high in the NNW.  This was beginning at about 0:30 
Dec. 22 UTC.  Then while I was waiting for one satellite 
to cross the zenith at about 1:13 UTC, a very nice 
meteor made a great appearance.  It was about -1, white, 
with a lovely long train.  It seemed quite fast to me.  
It began in the eastern corner of the Great Square of 
Pegasus and went pretty much due south for about 20 
degrees.

Now, in spite of fearing that I'll wear you all out, 
I'll mention that today someone where I work said that 
Sunday evening (between 3:00 and 4:00 Dec 20 UTC) from 
the deck of his house, he and his father saw the 
brightest fireball that he had ever seen.  He said it 
had a very long train and was red with some yellow.  He 
said it traveled from NW to SE and with his arms 
indicated an angle of maybe as much as 120 (?, more 
than 90) degrees.  He said that it lasted a few brief 
seconds.  He said that it did not light up the sky, 
and it did not break up.  I guess it wasn't a monster 
bolide, but still I wish I'd seen it!

Finally, many thanks to the two persons who replied to
my question about seeing a lot of meteors around the 
periphery of my field of vision.  Apparently I made a 
mistake in watching so near the zenith.

Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexasdot edu - Austin, Texas, USA
http://wwwvms.utexasdot edu/~ecannon/meteorlinks.html

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