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Re: (meteorobs) How fast do Mathematic freaks jump?
My Dear Einsteins,
Boy! Never knew there were that many mathy freaks around on Meteorobs! ;-)
Reading the discussions on the formula I innocently posted on this list, I
felt a bit like being back on high school, where I always had bad marks for
mathematics (but good ones for physics, strange enough).
Better think twice before I post a formula next time... :-)
As I wrote, don't ask me the "why" of this formula. I just found it in a
handbook and decided to put it up following the gator's question about the
relation speed-size-brightness. Never occurred to me it would start such a
discussion among our Einsteins! I have some feeling they could bitterly
debate whether Old Albert really meant that E equals MC square.... ;-)
The handbook I picked it out is my trusted old 1989 release "DMS Visual
Handbook" (worn and showing the scars of many a field campaign in the
Netherlands and elsewhere on this planet: the cow dung of the Meterik
(Peter's parents) farm is still on the cover!) by Peter Jenniskens - the guy
with which Lew shrewdly put me up under the likes: don't ever do that again
Lew! - and he refers the formula to Jacchia et al., Smiths. Contr. to
Astroph. 10 (1967), p.25. This relationship for mass, brightness and
velocity was apparently deduced from photographic results of the famous
Harvard Super Schmidt project.
By the way Lew: I read the formula as probably having to be read something
like this:
the log mass in kg for a meteor of magnitude (m) equals: 2.98 minus (0.44
times its magnitude) minus (3.89 times log velocity[inf]) minus (0.67 times
log sinus radiantheight). But I am more like Dilbert than Einstein.
- Marco :-)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lew Gramer" <dedalus@latrade.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 11:46 PM
>
> > log M(m)=2.98-0.44m-3.89log V[inf]-0.67log(sin h)
>
> Thanks for posting that, Marco! Just to make sure that I understand that
> equation, should it be read as follows, or did I mess up my transcription?
>
>
> "the log of m with base M" is equal to:
>
> 2.98 - [ 0.44 x m ] - [ 3.89 x log(Vinf) ] - [ 0.67 x log(sin(h)) ]
>
>
> Maybe there's a reference for this formula, like the IMO Visual Handbook,
> or possibly D.W.R. McKinley? Thanks again for the informative post!
>
> Lew Gramer
>
>
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