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(meteorobs) Kordylewski Clouds
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Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 07:37:03 -0800 (PST)
From: Francis Graham <francisgraham@rocketmail.com>
To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Subject: [meteorite-list] Kordylewski Clouds
Dear Listees:
Natural space debris being part of the domain of
this list, I would like to introduce a subject that
few have heard of: the Kordylewski Clouds. These were
discovered in the 1950's by Kordylewski and are dust
that collects at the Earth-Moon stable L points, as do
the Trojans near the Jupiter-Sun L points. They seem
to be verified by a number of observers, but some have
not verified them.
They have been indeed imaged, but others who have
deliberately tried to image them, have not been
successful.
It appears therefore the K. Clouds are variable.
This squares with some calculations done which shows a
particle in the clouds would eventually be ejected. So
the particles in them have a source and then are
dynamically ejected from the system or impact on the
moon or become one of the sporadic meteors of the
Earth.
They are extremely faint, when visible, and require
extreme dark skies. They apparently are barely naked
eye visible, but if the Milky way does not appear in
your sky as a blazing band of luminous light, and if
the Zodiacal Light and Gegenschein are not pronounced,
you have no hope of seeing the Kordylewski Clouds. I
might add that I personally have not with certainty
seen them, but I think the positive reports and images
are credible enough.
Has anyone on this list seen them?
Some of the early unsuccessful searches used
blue-sensitive photographic plates, while some of the
early successful images involved panchromatic plates.
There is therefore the hint that the particles are
more reflective in the red, suggesting a lunar source.
If so, then right now might be a good time to try, as
the moon has been recently bombarded with Leonids and
Geminids. Further, we want a time when the L-points
are above or below the ecliptic (out of the Zodiacal
light) at or near the 5 degree max for that. In
addition, it must not be near a node of the Moon's
orbit with the milky way, and we want as dark a sky as
possible (viz. crescent Moon). Then a K cloud should
appear as a knobby "island" off the "coast" of the
zodiacal light.
I would be interested to know of any information
anyone on this list might have regarding the
Kordylewski Clouds, or if there are any observations.
Francis Graham
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