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(meteorobs) Excerpts from "CCNet 118/2000 - 15 November 2000"
------- Forwarded Message
From: Peiser Benny <B.J.Peiser@livjm.acdot uk>
To: cambridge-conference <cambridge-conference@livjm.acdot uk>
Subject: CCNet, 15 November 2000
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 13:08:30 -0000
CCNet 118/2000 - 15 November 2000
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(1) NEAR SHOEMAKER TEAM RELEASE LOW-FLYOVER MOVIE OF EROS
Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasadot gov>
(2) THE LEONIDS, COMING THIS WEEKEND TO SKIES NEAR YOU
Space.com, 14 November 2000
(3) THE LEONIDS AS SEEN FROM THE UK (WE HOPE) AND EUROPE
Jacqueline Mitton <aco01@dial.pipex.com>
(4) CORRECTIONS
Dave Tholen <tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaiidot edu>
[...]
=================================================================
(1) NEAR SHOEMAKER TEAM RELEASE LOW-FLYOVER MOVIE OF EROS
>From Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasadot gov>
http://near.jhuapldot edu/news/flash/00nov14_1.html
November 14, 2000
Showing you don't need lasers and light sabers to make a great space flick,
the NEAR mission team has released the first movie from NEAR Shoemaker's
low-altitude buzz over Eros:
http://near.jhuapldot edu/iod/20001114/index.html
Shot in the early hours of Oct. 26, 2000, the film covers segments of a
55-minute span in which NEAR Shoemaker closes from 8 to 5 miles (13 to 8
kilometers) over the asteroid's rocky surface. Without giving away too much
of the plot, the 90-second movie includes unprecedented and detailed views
of dust-filled craters, jagged boulders and rugged terrain that have
intrigued NEAR scientists.
"The resolution in these images is about three times better than any we've
seen of Eros, and they've given us a lot to talk about," says NEAR Project
Scientist Andrew Cheng. "There is an amazing number and variety of boulders,
some of which seem to have a layered structure. We also see the same global
fabric of ridges and grooves that we saw from higher altitudes, and from
this altitude we can discern finer details."
The NEAR Web site offers several movies of Eros, some going back to the
weeks before NEAR Shoemaker's historic Valentine's Day rendezvous with the
asteroid. Mark Robinson, a NEAR science team member from Northwestern
University who produces the movies from images snapped by NEAR Shoemaker's
digital camera, says the short films are as scientifically valuable as they
are cool to watch.
http://near.jhuapldot edu/Images/.Anim.html
"Setting the images in motion reveals a lot about the asteroid itself,"
Robinson says. "The movies give us a dynamic look at changes in the
shadowing and shading of surface features. By examining features with
different illumination, geologists get a better look into the history of the
asteroid."
The low flyover on Oct. 25-26 sent NEAR Shoemaker about 3 miles (5.3
kilometers) from Eros' surface, the closest any spacecraft has ever come to
a planetary body without landing on it. The car-sized satellite has since
moved into a higher orbit, gathering global images of Eros from about 124
miles (200 kilometers) away. After starting a 22-mile (35-kilometer) orbit
on Dec. 13, NEAR Shoemaker will operate at that distance or lower until the
mission ends in February 2001.
Check out the entire gallery of NEAR movies and pictures:
http://near.jhuapldot edu/iod/archive.html
=================================================================
(2) THE LEONIDS, COMING THIS WEEKEND TO SKIES NEAR YOU
>From Space.com, 14 November 2000
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/leonids_history_001113.html
By Mark Wheeler
The Leonid meteor shower peaks this weekend. Should you be afraid?
The great meteor storm of 1833 is said to have kick-started the modern study
of meteors - and scared the bejesus out of the uninformed. Small wonder: at
the storm's peak, between 2 a.m. and dawn on November 12 and 13, roughly
100,000 meteors per hour scorched the night sky.
"Imagine a constant succession of fireballs, resembling rockets, radiating
in all directions from a point in the heavens," wrote Denison Olmsted, of
Yale College. The display goaded scientists into researching past storms and
hypothesizing on future ones. (It may also have been responsible for a wave
of religious revivals, fomented by viewers convinced they had experienced
the precursor to Armageddon.)
FULL STORY at
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/leonids_history_001113.html
=================================================================
(3) THE LEONIDS AS SEEN FROM THE UK (WE HOPE) AND EUROPE
>From Jacqueline Mitton <aco01@dial.pipex.com>
THE FOLLOWING PRESS NOTICE HAS BEEN RECEIVED FROM THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY
GREENWICH AND IS FORWARDED FOR YOUR INFORMATION.
Jacqueline Mitton , Royal Astronomical Society Press Officer
jmitton@dial.ppex.com
Note: contact information is at the end of this release.
14 November 2000.
LEONID METEOR SHOWER - 17/18 NOVEMBER 2000
- - ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES
Meteors from the constellation of Leo will light up the sky on the nights of
17 & 18 November when astronomers all over the world will be watching the
annual Leonid meteor shower.
For observers in the UK and Europe, the best chance of seeing meteors will
be at 03:44 on the morning of 18 November, as the Earth passes close to a
stream of debris released by comet Temple-Tuttle 260 years ago. At this time
it may be possible to see as many as 100 meteors an hour. This is ten times
the background rate that can be seen on any other night of the year.
The Earth9s orbit passes close to the comet Temple Tuttle9s orbit each year
in November and during this time the Earth collides with particles of
cometary debris which follow the comet9s orbit.
Meteors can be seen on any clear night of the year and most are caused by
particles no bigger than grains of sand, which collide with the Earth9s
atmosphere at up to 70km per second (157,000 mph) and burn up. Fireballs
are caused by meteors a few centimetres in diameter and can leave tails that
persist for several minutes.
Dr Robert Massey will be taking students from the Royal Observatory9s GCSE
astronomy class out to a dark site in the Kent countryside on the night of
17 November to observe the meteors and measure the level of activity. The
observers will also take the opportunity to look at the Moon, stars and
planets away from the lights of London.
To arrange interviews with Dr Robin Catchpole, Senior Astronomer, or Dr
Robert Massey, Astronomy Information Officer, please contact the Press
Office on (020) 8312 6545/6745/6790 or email kvcannin@nmm.acdot uk An ISDN line
is available.
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