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(meteorobs) Meteor Activity Outlook March 10-16, 2000
The moon will reach its first quarter phase on Monday the 13th. This is
when it sets near midnight so it will actually be out of the way a bit
sooner over the weekend. For morning observers the moon will not be much
of a factor at all during this period. The only radiant active during
the evening will be the Virginids. For Saturday night/Sunday morning
the center of the radiant will be located at 12:20 -00 which is close to
the 4th magnitude star Zaniah, also known as Eta Virginis. Since the
Virginid radiant is a large area rather than a small point in the sky,
shower association should be more based on the velocity. Any fast meteor
seen from this area can be immediately ruled out. Shower members would
appear quite slow for those meteors seen near the radiant. If seen away
from the radiant and high in the sky the speed would be medium-slow.
Virginid rates can be surprisingly active producing 5 or more shower
members per hour. More often than not though, rates are quite low with
some hours passing with no activity at all. This was the case with my
observations last weekend from Florida. During 5 hours of observing not
one meteor was seen from this radiant. The radiant drift for the
Virginids is 2.0 minutes per day eastward and 0.3 degrees per day
southward.
Observers in the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics can also watch out
for the Delta Pavonids now located near 18:24 -59 and the Gamma Normids
from 16:24 -51. Both of these radiants produce swift meteors with
geocentric velocities of 60 and 56 km/sec. Both of these radiants are
also best seen just before dawn when the radiants are the highest above
the horizon.
Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
AMS Visual Coordinator
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