[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: (meteorobs) Xi Draconids on meteorobs


----- Original Message -----

> Seeing mention of Xi Draconids in Bob Lunsford's weekly activity
> outlook for June 8-14, I looked at the online calendars of which
> I'm aware and did not find them listed!  Then I went to Google
> and found that they were discussed at length in many meteorobs
> messages in June 1996:
>
> I believe the threads began with an observing report by George
> Zay and a follow-up about the same night by Bob Lunsford

Yes, and as a full reminder, here is the sequence of events that year: Bob
and George noted a low level activity from a radiant near the head of Draco
around June 11 and reported these on meteorobs. And then, and completely
unaware of their observations, I observed a significant flurry (13 in less
than 2 hours nett observing time) of these meteors from a highly similar
radiant just east of the Draco head a few nights later, on June 15-16, at
virtually exactly the same solar longitude as the 1966 June Lyrid
observations of Stan Dvorak, and with the impression of a clear peak lasting
less than an hour (during a 10 minute interval at 23:35-23:45 UTC on June
15th (1996), I even had 5 of these meteors appearing in rapid succession).
So quite likely, although the 1996 radiant position is different by some 30
degrees in declination from the 1966 observations (just as the 1996 alpha
Monocerotid radiant was 25 degrees off of previous radiant determinations:
but can anyone on this list tell me how the 1966 June Lyrid radiant position
was actually deduced?) , xi Draconids are synonymous to the June Lyrids,
with maximum most likely on June 15-16. They should not be confused however
with the iota Draconids or June Bootids, which are a clearly different
stream. I have reason to believe that my 1996 june 15-16 short duration
flurry was NOT an annual phenomenon but a true small meteor outburst, as was
Dvoraks 1966 observation, but....additional observations in other years
should make that clear! It is not unlikely that there is a low level annual
activity as well.

Marco

---
Marco Langbroek                    private: marco.langbroek@wanadoodot nl
Leiden University                     work: m.langbroek@arch.leidenunivdot nl
Faculty of Archaeology
P.O. Box 9515
http://home.wanadoodot nl/marco.langbroek/
NL-2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

"What seest thou else
  In the dark backward and abysm of time?"

William Shakespeare: The Tempest act I scene 2
---





To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html
References: