Hey Mark Check out the lasco c3 image, from Nasa's SOHO site it looks interesting, ive seen a few streaks on it before, this image is loaded with them Thom Morgan ----- Original Message ----- From: <meteors@comcastdot net> To: "NAMN" <meteors@comcastdot net> Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 7:28 PM Subject: (meteorobs) NAMN Notes: May 2002 > ************************* > NAMN Notes: May 2002 > ************************* > > Introduction: > > NAMN Notes is a monthly newsletter produced by the North American Meteor > Network, and is available both via email, and on the NAMN website at: > www.namnmeteors.org > > > Contents: > > 1. Edmond Halley - His Comet and Our Meteors... > 2. Sagittarids, the Ecliptic Activity... > 3. Other Sky Events in May... > 4. Upcoming Meetings... > 5. For more info... > > > 1. Edmond Halley - His Comet and Our Meteors... > > Edmond Halley is famous for many things - notably Halley's Comet! Our main > meteor shower in May is debris from this famous comet! > > Who really was Edmond Halley though? Sure, we've heard about his comet... > but was it his comet? Not really. Halley - in the comet world - became > famous for realizing that the comets of 1531, 1607 and 1682 were all the > same body. He didn't discover any of them - but he was astute enough to > realize, by comparing their orbits, that they were the same. It was this > significant discovery that resulted in these comets being renamed as Comet > Halley! Nor was he the only astronomer to have a comet named after him due > to the calculation of the orbit. The wonderful 6-tailed comet of 1744 that > we all know as de Cheseaux's Comet wasn't found by de Cheseaux either. But, > it bears his name as he computed its orbit and made extensive observations > of it! And even the well-known Comet Encke was not found by Encke. It was > discovered by the famous comet hunter Jean Louis Pons! But Encke identified > it as a short period comet, orbiting the sun about every 3.3 years - and so > it was renamed Comet Encke! > > But... back to Halley, the astronomer who didn't discover Halley's Comet. > What else is he known for? Well, he is well-known for quite a strange > variety of > reasons. He designed an underwater diving bell. He worked as deputy > comptroller for the English mint. He published the very first > meteorological map, showing prevailing winds over the oceans. He produced > one of the earliest studies of human mortality, which was quite influential > in the actuarial industry. He was a naval captain of a ship called the > "Paramore Pink", and sailed all over the Atlantic Ocean charting the > variation of the earth's magnetic field! He persuaded Newton to publish the > Principia Mathematica, and paid for the publishing costs out of his own > pocket. > > Astronomically, besides the comet connection, he made many contributions. > He compiled the first systematic catalogue of stars in the southern > hemisphere. He was the first to recognize that stars move in relation to > one another. He noted that observing transits of Venus passing in front of > the Sun would make it possible to calculate the distance from the Sun to the > Earth. He became Astronomer Royal in Great Britain in 1720 and held the > post for 21 years, until shortly before his death at Greenwich in his late > 80's. > > So, it is with some interesting history that Halley's Comet brings us our > main meteor activity for the month of May! > > The eta Aquarid (ETA) meteor shower reaches maximum activity on May 5th at > 530 UT, Universal Time according to the International Meteor Organization. > This shower activity started in April, and will continue until about May > 28th, with the maximum activity centered around May 5th and 6th. > > These are fast meteors, with a velocity of about 66 km per second. ZHR > rates are quoted as about 60 meteors per hour. This is the number of > meteors per hour, on average, that an observer would expect to see with > the unaided eye, if they are out under a dark country sky and if the > radiant, the area in the sky where the meteors seem to come from, is > directly overhead. If your sky is light-polluted with city lights and > glare, you will not see as many meteors from Halley's Comet! > > In their 2002 Meteor Shower calendar, the IMO writes about the eta Aquarids: > > "A relatively broad maximum, sometimes with a variable number of submaxima, > usually occurs in early May. ZHRs are generally above 30 between about May > 3-10, based on IMO observations during 1988-1997, analyzed by Tim Cooper, > and confirmed by visual and radio observation since... All forms of > observing can be used to study the eta-Aquarids, with radio work allowing > activity to be followed even from many northern latitude sites throughout > the daylight morning hours." > > This is a shower that has, actually, quite good rates over a number of > days - and all observations are encouraged! If you are going to be clouded > out for the time of maximum activity, try to observe the nights before or > after the shower. This information is valuable to the researchers - in > order to get a better picture of the whole period of activity of this debris > from Halley's Comet! > > Where do the meteors come from in the sky? Print off a map showing the > radiant (and its movement over time) from the IMO website at > http://www.imodot net/calendar/cal02.html#eta-Aquarids The radiant on May 5th > will be at 338 -01, ie RA 22h 31.8m, Dec -01, which is very near the star > eta Aquarius on a star atlas. The radiant is not a single spot, but an > area in the sky approximately centered on these coordinates. > > If you want to learn more about how to record meteors so you can help out > the meteor researchers, check out our NAMN Observing Guide at > www.namnmeteors.org/guide.html If you have any questions, drop a note to > our NAMN Coordinator at meteors@comcastdot net > > Clear skies for May.... and have fun observing the debris from Halley's > Comet! > > > 2. Sagittarids, the Ecliptic Activity... > > The Sagittarids (SAG) continue into May, and will last until about mid-July. > This is a complex of radiants near the ecliptic, and is believed to be the > debris from a number of unknown bodies. Most meteor showers are old comet > debris, and one well-known meteor shower (the Geminids, in December) is > actually asteroid debris - but the origin of the Sagittarids is unknown. > > These meteors are almost slow, with a velocity of about 30 km per second, > and the ZHR rates are about 5 meteors per hour. Fireballs have been > associated with this shower - so those of you out observing could be > rewarded with some spectacular bright meteors! > > The radiant of the shower - the area in the sky where the meteors seem to > come from - does move over time, as with all meteor showers. In the case of > the Sagittarids, spanning such a long time period (mid-April until > mid-July), the movement from week to week is quite pronounced. How do we > know where this radiant is from week to week? Print yourself off a copy of > Table 6 on the IMO website at http://www.imodot net/calendar/cal02.html#Table6 > > For example, for SAG, the Sagittarids, come from the following areas in the > sky: > May 5 236 -20 > May 10 240 -21 > May 20 247 -22 > May 30 256 -23 > > So... what is this? These are coordinates, and you can read these positions > off our NAMN star charts. Print yourself off a set of 4 from > www.namnmeteors.org/charts.html The first number refers to Right Ascension, > ie longitude in the sky. The second number refers to Declination, ie > latitude in the sky. > > If you already have a star atlas at home, how do you convert these > coordinates to what is on your (normal) star atlas? Well, divide the first > number (RA, Right Ascension) by 15 to get a whole number of hours, then > multiply the decimal remainder times 60 to get minutes. The Declination in > degrees stays the same. > > example: May 5: 236 -20 > 236/15 = 15.73, so get 15 hours > then .73 x 60 = 43.8, so get 43.8 minutes > So, SAG radiant is at RA 15h 43.8m, Dec -20 > which is readable off your star atlas! > > Besides recognized main showers, other minor showers and even daytime > meteor showers, there is also sporadic meteor activity in May. This > sporadic activity is about 7 meteors per hour, visible to the unaided eye. > This activity is comprised partly of random meteors and partly of meteors > that belong to long-ago, now untraceable showers. > > > 3. Other Sky Events in May... > > There are a lot of neat things in the sky in May, besides just meteors! > However, a bit of knowledge about these other objects will prove useful to > you, both in your meteor observing, and in your learning of the night sky. > > In May, the moon phases are as follows: > Sat. May 4 - last quarter > Sun. May 12 - new moon > Sun. May 19 - first quarter > Sun. May 26 - full moon > > For use in judging the brightness of the meteors you see this month, the > magnitudes of the planets are as follows, to the nearest half magnitude: > Venus -4 low in west > Mercury 0 on May 1, 1.4 by May 11, 3.8 by May 21, low in west > Jupiter -2 visible in Gemini, low in west > Saturn 0 low in west > Mars 1.5 low in west > > As you can see, all of the bright planets are low in the west this month - > and will make for some great views! Try some photographs with camera and > tripod - it is not very often that we can see all these planets close > together in the sky. It is, of course, a view due to our perspective where > we're watching from, but quite interesting nonetheless. Use fast film, > with your camera on a tripod, with a cable release. Set your camera to B > (bulb setting), and do a series of time exposures, such as (for instance) 10 > sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, up to about 35 seconds. Always bracket your > exposures like this... you have a much better chance of getting a perfect > shot. One important tip - if you are using a Skylight or other type of > filter on your lens to protect it, take it off during your exposures - or > due to the brightness of the planets, you will get ghost images of them > diagonally opposite their position in your photo! > > The planets will appear very close to the moon during their dance from > night to night in the western sky. On Tuesday May 14th, there are 3 > planetary occultations! This is where the moon passes in front of a planet, > as seen from earth. Saturn will appear to go behind the moon, as seen from > the British Isles, western Scandinavia, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, > northern Canada, and northeast Asia. Mars will appear to go behind the > moon, as seen from the southeast Pacific Ocean, South America apart from the > far north and south, and the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Lastly, Venus will > appear to go behind the moon, as seen from the south Pacific Ocean. > > For some great maps of the planetary positions this month, go to the Heavens > Above website at http://www.heavens-above.com On the main screen, go to > Select, pick your country and nearest city... then scroll down to Whole > Sky Chart. Pick your night and time... and you get a wonderful chart of the > whole sky to print off, showing where the planets are that night! > > And... we still have at least one fairly decent comet around too! Comet > Ikeya-Zhang will be visible in binoculars in May. For a finder chart, go to > the Heavens Above site just mentioned, or Seiichi Yoshida's site, "Weekly > Information About Bright Comets" at > http://www.aerithdot net/comet/weekly/current.html To see some absolutely > stunning photos of Comet Ikeya-Zhang, go to Gary Kronk's "Cometography" > website at http://cometography.com/lcomets/2002c1.html Stay tuned to these > websites for more comet info... we seem to have a number of comets > accessible to amateurs lately! > > There are a lot of interesting astronomical sights this year in May - > besides just meteors! Get outside, get reacquainted with the constellations > after a long winter, and let us know about your observations! > > > 4. Upcoming Meetings... > > May 2-5, 2002, Tokyo, Japan... > The 2002 Leonid MAC Workshop, an international science symposium on the > Leonid meteor storms, will be held in Tokyo. For more information, contact > Dr. Peter Jenniskens at pjenniskens@mail.arc.nasadot gov, and check out the > conference website at http://planetb.sci.isas.ac.jp/~avell/2002_Leonid_WS/ > > July 21-26, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA... > The 65th annual meeting of the Meteoritical Society will be held at the > University of California in Los Angeles. Special sessions planned include > 'Mars: Meteorites and Missions' and 'Chondrule and CAI origins'. For > information, check out www.lpi.usradot edu/meetings/metsoc2002 > > July 29-August 2, 2002, Berlin, Germany... > The Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 2002 Conference will be held in Berlin, > Germany. Topics that will be covered include comets, asteroids, meteor > showers, interplanetary material, collisions and impacts, NEO's (near earth > objects), the asteroid-meteorite connection, transitional objects, origin of > comets, and many other related topics. This is the 8th ACM conference in a > series, with a conference being held only every 3 years. It is being > jointly organized by the DLR Institute of Space Sensor Technology and > Planetary Exploration, the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy, and the > Technical University of Berlin. There is a registration discount if you > register before May 1st. For details, contact J. Benkhoff at acm2002@dlrdot de > and check out the ACM 2002 website at http://berlinadmin.dlrdot de/SGF/acm2002 > > September 26-29, 2002, Frombork, Poland... > IMC 2002, the International Meteor Conference, will be held in Frombork, > Poland - land of Copernicus! This is the annual conference of the IMO, the > International Meteor Organization, and welcomes all meteor observers, both > amateur and professional. The conference is organized by CMW, the Polish > Comets and Meteors Workshop. Besides the talks and discussions, there are > many interesting sites to visit, such as the tower where Nicolaus Copernicus > made many of his observations and the Radziejowski tower with its > astronomical planetarium. For information, check out www.imodot net and > www.astrouwdot edu.pl/~olech/pkim/imc2002/imc.html. For specific questions, > contact Mariusz Wisniewski at pkim@astrouwdot edu.pl > > For more information on upcoming astronomy meetings, see: > "International Astronomy Meetings List" > http://cadcwww.hia.nrcdot ca/meetings > > > 5. For more info... > > NAMN email: namn@atmob.org > NAMN website: www.namnmeteors.org > > Mark Davis, meteors@comcastdot net > Goose Creek, South Carolina, USA > Coordinator, North American Meteor Network > > Cathy Hall, chall@cyberusdot ca > Metcalfe, Ontario, Canada > Co-author, NAMN Notes > > Lew Gramer, dedalus@alum.mitdot edu > Medford, Massachusetts, USA > Coordinator, Public Outreach > Owner/Moderator, 'MeteorObs' > > Kevin Kilkenny, Mail4Meteors@aol.com > Staten Island, New York, USA > Coordinator, Fireballs and Meteorites > > Back issues of NAMN Notes can be found on-line at the NAMN website > and in the MeteorObs archives at: > www.meteorobs.org > by selecting 'Browse Archive by Month' > > To subscribe to the meteor email list or > To find out information on our weekly chat sessions: > Contact Lew Gramer at: > dedalus@alum.mitdot edu > > ============================================ > > Here's to 'Clear Skies' for May... > > May 2002 NAMN Notes co-written > by Mark Davis and Cathy Hall > > ============================================ > > > > > The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org > To stop getting all email from the 'meteorobs' lists, use our Webform: > http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html >