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(meteorobs) Fine structure in Leonid stream?



I have just completed a preliminary hand-analysis of data reported here from
nine different sites around the USA. This analysis clearly shows that the
short bursts that observers often talk about showed up at different sites.
This means that clustering is not completely random. An analysis of such
data can give us some idea of the fine structure of a meteor stream. My own
experiment was designed to look at very fine structure, but the equipment
failed. It turns out that we might be able to get a handle on this problem
by combining data from a great many sites. However, the data we need is not
at all the same as what is traditionally expected. The perfect data would
have timings accurate to within one second and positions accurate to within
a few kilometers. However, we can get close enough with the following kinds
of data:

1. minute-by-minute counts of Leonids from any location in North America.

2. the tape recordings themselves -- I can get the timings much more
accurately that way.

3. results of MetRec observations, listing times of fall and, if possible,
altitude and azimuth data.

4. raw videotapes taken with image intensifier tubes.

I am therefore issuing an appeal to all who observed this shower: if you
have this kind of data, please send it to me. You can post it to meteorobs
(if you have already posted it here, I already have it. But if you can get
me data that is better than what you posted, by all means, please do so).
You can send it to me privately by email. Or you can mail the tape to me at:

Chris Crawford
2349 Sterling Creek Road
Jacksonville, OR 97530

If you do have such data, and you do send it, please help create a bandwagon
effect by posting something here announcing that you are sending it. If you
don't have such data, but appreciate the importance of what I'm attempting,
please enhance the bandwagon effect by posting some sort of "Attaboy"
message. This will only work if I can collect a lot of data; the stuff
already posted is enough to be tantalizing but not enough to really prove
the case. This is a prime opportunity for amateurs, using the net, to put
together something that simply could not have been accomplished ten years
ago. 

I have prepared a page on my website explaining the new analysis on some
detail; they should be up at http://www.erasmatazz.com/Leonids/Leonids.html
by the time you read this. I will of course keep this newsgroup posted as to
the progress of my analysis, and I will post more details as they develop on
my website.

Thanks for any help you can provide. With luck and cooperative effort, we
can pull this off!

Chris


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