[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) 1885 and 1891 shower outbursts
Hi!
I've been reading Peter Jenniskens' article 'Meteor stream activity II'
(Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1995 (206-235)) on meteor outbursts. It provides
very interesting reading on many showers. There is also a table of possible
meteor outbursts taken from Chinese records. I found two that are especially
interesting (the first has Leo? as its possible association):
1885 Nov. 14/15 'From midnight to cockcrow, stars fell like rain'
1891 Nov. 17/18 'Full Moon. Stars fell like rain'
The 1885 event was most probably the Andromedid/Bielid storm. I assume date
used here is in Julian calendar, coverting to Gregorian gives a peak on Nov. 27
(in fact, there was a discussion back in March 2000 that already covered the
possible outburst of 1886 and Julian/Gregorian conversions in Chinese dates).
The Moon phase confirms this. Also, the Andromedid storm peaked roughly on Nov
27.8, which is evening European time and morning time for eastern Asia. This is
probably the Andromedid storm then? I wouldn't bring it up if it didn't have
the Leonids as the possible association.
The second account is a bit harder to explain. With the comet theoretically
passing perihelion in 1885 and an orbital period of 6.62 years, the next
possible outburst comes in 1891 or 1892, which speaks in favor of this being an
Andromedid outburst. However, the comet's nodal passage was shifting by -0.18
deg/yr in the 19th century so the peak would be expected to occur about a day
earlier than in 1885 instead od three days later, regardless of the calendar
used. A dust trail passage offset from the comet's orbit by three days could
explain this. Were the storms of 1872 and 1885 caused by different dust trails
or were they both caused by a trail that formed during the disintegration of
the comet (I assume a more massive trail was formed then)? Whatever the shower,
it must have been strong to attract enough attention to be noted, especially in
the moonlight of a 100% lit Moon. Are there any other historical records of
this shower, since I haven't seen any yet?
Also, could the Leonids produce a shower as much as 8 years before parent
comet nodal passage? Does the current dust trail model of the Leonids allow
such an outburst?
Clear skies!
Jure
-------------------
http://www.emaildot si
The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
If you are interested in complete links on the 2001 LEONIDS, see:
http://www.meteorobs.org/storms.html
To stop getting email from the 'meteorobs' list, use the Web form at:
http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html