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Re: (meteorobs) mapping dust trails

    I have been thinking about this for a while now. Perhaps we could borrow a
star wars laser, ground based (high power) and use it to sweep the sky when we
are near or in a dust trail. A satellite observing at a bit of an angle may be
able to detect the light as it hit the dust.
    I am anticipating that a fair amount of very fine dust exists, which would be
below the threshold size for producing a visible meteor, in addition to the
normal meteor visible stuff. Hitting the larger stuff would be most unlikely, but
may happen. Mostly we would be looking at the small stuff.
    The sweeps could be across the dust trail when we are moving beside it, or
across the radiant when we are in a storm.

    That way we could confirm the location of the dust trails, and the
distribution and density of the dust in the trails.

    The satellites receiving 'acuity' could be enhanced by switching to one
dimensional viewing.

    Stuart.

    Patented by Smith & Wesson, 2000.


"Kim S. Youmans" wrote:

> Leo, your idea for a dust mapping probe sounds very creative to me!  Maybe the
> particles would be too small for mapping, but if a way could be found to do
> that, then we could certainly learn quite a bit about, say, the leonid stream,
> very quickly!
> Kim Youmans
>
> Leo Stachowicz wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Thanks for all the replies to my previous questions,and for making me feel
> > at home :)
> >
> > Something else  I have been puzzling over...
> >
> >  From what I understand ,we now have a pretty good idea of the structure
> > and locations of
> > some cometary dust trails ,notably those giving rise to the Leonid showers.
> > As far as I know,the vast majority of the data which has enabled our
> > understanding comes from terrestrially based projects and observations...
> >
> > I'm curios as to wether there are any plans to map and perhaps investigate
> > the trails in detail
> > by a probe launched and equipped with sensitive radar ? (..or would the
> > particles be to small and defuse for radar to map accurately ?)
> >
> > Seeing as we pass right through these trails on a regular basis ,the
> > logistics of a mission like this (although still enormously complex) would
> > be simplified by being able to launch in such close proximity to the
> > objective,making it a worthy candidate for further investigation, would it
> > not ?
> >
> > clear skys,
> >
> >                      Leo
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