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(meteorobs) Fwd: BRITISH 'METEOR SHOWER' PROBABLY PROTON ROCKET RE-ENTRY
------- Forwarded Message
From: Peiser Benny <B.J.Peiser@livjm.acdot uk>
To: cambridge-conference <cambridge-conference@livjm.acdot uk>
Subject: BRITISH 'METEOR SHOWER' PROBABLY PROTON ROCKET RE-ENTRY
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 14:52:31 -0000
BRITISH 'METEOR SHOWER' PROBABLY PROTON ROCKET RE-ENTRY
>From Marco Langbroek <m.langbroek@rulpre.leidenunivdot nl>
Dear Benny,
The grouplet of 'meteors' observed from Britain last Saturday, described in
item #7 (the BBC news article) of CCNet 128, has also been observed from
Belgium and the southwest of the Netherlands.
When reports reached our Dutch Meteor Society we immediately suspected a
space junk re-entry because of the characteristics of the phenomenon.
Turns out it probably was. According to Alan Pickup's Satellite Decay Watch
page (http://www.wingardot demon.codot uk/satevo/dkwatch/), the December 1 event
over western Europe was probably due to a piece of the same Russian Proton
rocket that caused a similar event over Oklahoma a few hours later, reported
in the same CCNet issue.
This event clearly was not related to the Leonid shower of two weeks ago
(the context in which the BBC news item put it). We observed the latter
events (Leonids) with teams establishing multistation image intensified
video networks (for orbital determinations) in China and Arizona.
Personally, I was part of the Arizona team and witnessed a great show with
Zenith Hourly Rates near 2000 at 10:35-10:40 UTC, raw counts of up to 40-45
Leonids per minute and bright meteors. Although the ZHR was less than the
1999 storm (which I observed from Spain), I did find this apparition more
impressive due to its long duration and bright meteors. It was the best
Leonid show I have ever seen.
Best wishes,
Marco Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)
http://www.dmsweb.org
Faculty of Archaeology
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9515
NL-2300 RA Leiden
the Netherlands
building 1176, room 021
tel. +31 (0)71 5272926
fax +31 (0)71 5272429
e-mail: m.langbroek@arch.leidenunivdot nl
http://home.wanadoodot nl/marco.langbroek/
------- End of Forwarded Message
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