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(meteorobs) Call for Observations for delta Cancrids
Hi, everyone,
I don't know if someone paid attention to the recent-discovered asteroid
2001 YB5, which
is also a "PHA". This asteroid is quite near to us recently (about 2.33
times more than the Earth-Moon distance at the nearest point).
I got through the webpage of NASA, and got the orbital elements at
http://neo.jpl.nasadot gov/cgi-bin/db?name=2001+YB5. Then I used Neslusan's
program to calculate some information of a possible radiant by the
orbital elements. The result is:
>>>
EQUINOX: 2000.0; DATA FOR YEAR: 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------
METH. ALPHA DELTA VG VH L DATE-MAX. D-DISC.
-Q 122.6 15.6 30.15 38.04 289.5 JAN. 9.9 .018
-B 122.6 15.7 30.42 38.22 289.5 JAN. 9.9 .017
-W 123.8 15.5 30.46 37.78 289.5 JAN. 9.9 .038
-A 121.2 16.0 30.44 37.78 286.9 JAN. 7.5 .005
-H 121.2 16.1 30.44 37.78 287.0 JAN. 7.5 .004
-P 121.2 15.8 30.45 37.78 287.0 JAN. 7.5 .007
Q+ 127.8 28.1 20.91 39.74 109.5 JULY 12.0 .413
B+ 127.7 27.7 22.24 40.70 109.5 JULY 12.0 .407
W+ 97.5 27.4 30.02 36.99 109.5 JULY 12.0 .757
A+ 152.4 15.9 30.49 37.18 161.4 SEP. 4.1 .084
H+ 151.6 14.4 30.42 37.18 161.1 SEP. 3.8 .074
P+ 152.4 18.3 30.58 37.18 160.8 SEP. 3.5 .119
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST/SECOND (-/+) SET OF DATA CONCERNS THE PRE-/POST-PERIHELION ARC
THE BEST METHOD - PRE-PERIHELION ARC: H (D = .004)
- POST-PERIHELION ARC: H (D = .074)
<<<
Then I checked if there is some known shower has similar parameters. As
the result, I surprisingly found the "delta-Cancrids" is very suitable
for this calculated information. In IMO's 2002 calendar, it was written
as:
>>>
Active : January 1-24;
Maximum : January 17 (lambda = 297°);
ZHR = 4;
Radiant : alpha = 130°, delta = +20°;
Radiant drift: see Table 6;
V = 28 km/s;
r = 3.0
<<<
And in IMO's shower list, it was written as:
>>>
Shw Name Activity Max Sollong Alpha Delta dAlpha
dDelta V r
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------
DCA Delta-Cancrids 01/01 - 24/01 17/01 297.00 130.0 20.0
0.90 -0.20 30.0 3.00
<<<
We can easily find the coordinates of the radiant, the velocities and the
active periods are all in very good agreement! As far as I know, people
haven't known who is delta-Cancrids' parent body. Now, I think the
Asteroid 2001 YB5 is very probable.
PS: all above is my own opinion, I would like to discuss it with anyone
interested in this problem.
Further more, we are preparing observations for the DCA shower in China.
For monitoring DCA, a group of observers, including Dr. Jin Zhu and Yuwei
Fan who met Lew Gramer and our Dutch colleagues at Xinglong in November,
will to go to a station to the north of Beijing. The group will do
observations in both January 7th and January 17th and compare them.
(January 7th is the maximum date calculated; and January 17th is the
traditional maximum night.)
Also, we would like to ask more observers to keep an eye out for this
meteor shower. Visual plotting, video and photographic observations can
all be used to determine the coordinate of the radiant. Radiant position
may be used to derive the evolution of the asteroid. Is it a corpse of an
old comet? Or how did it produce the meteoroid stream? Or even is it the
parent of DCA?
So far, we have just got both spectrum data and photometry data of this
asteroid. More meteor observations may help to know more information on
the asteroid.
All best wishes and Clear skies!
Huan Meng <meteorobs_menhu@hotmail.com>
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