[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

(meteorobs) eta Aquarids, strike one

 
Hi, I'm new to the list, but not to meteor observing, which I've been doing visually since the late 1980s.  I've recently accepted an assignment which involves radio detection of meteors in schools (primarily Grade 9), and given I have little background in radio astronomy the learning curve is rather steep to say the least.  
 
I am currently testing equipment using a set-up involving an FM radio receiver, antenna, computer with Jim Sky's Radio SkyPipe  shareware program, and VCR to record audio with a time stamp. 
 
One of my early objectives is to establish what relationship exists between visual and radio meteors.  I'm wondering if contributors to meteorobs who have experience with simultaneously observing meteors visually and with, say, a car radio, would be so kind as to share that experience with me.  What percentage of visual meteors have an audio counterpart, and vice versa.  In the case of matched sets, what is the preferred direction to look and listen relative to the radiant?  Relative to the distant FM transmitter?   
 
I've been trying to conduct my own observations, trying to match visual observations described on a microcassette with recorded radio-echo meteors.   I started with the radio-poor Lyrids, and am continuing on with the eta Aquarids.  For those interested, what follows is a transcript from my observing notes this morning. 
*******
The weather forecasts have not been cheerful these days, predicting the skies to deteriorate still further from their already dismal state.  I therefore set my alarm for 3 a.m. and dutifully crawled out of bed after two hours sleep to try and make a visual observation of the eta Aquarids, some 18 hours before the predicted maximum.  Conditions were less than ideal with variable cloud cover, and a limiting magnitude also varying somewhere between 3 and 4.  Breaks in the cloud were common, especially near the zenith where I concentrated my observing.  Furthermore, the clouds never seemed to be quite dense enough to extinguish Vega, so presumably I should have been able to see any bright meteor, plus fractions of the paths of others.   
 
The shower is predicted to have a relatively flat peak from May 3-6; from this morning's observations I will certainly accept "flat" (as in "flat-line"), while the choice of the word "peak" seems curious.  In probably 100 minutes of actual observing, I observed 0 eta Aquarids, 0 meteors from other showers, and 0 sporadics for a total of 0 meteors. 
 
Disappointing results to say the least, but the only answer is to get up tomorrow and try to do it again.  On a weekend where I have two commitments at the Observatory and one at the RASC display at Earth Day, not to mention drafting our blurb for the teachers' newsletter, I really could have used the sleep.  But whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. 
 
By no means was my time entirely wasted; a null result is still a result, plus I had ample time to ponder some of the dynamics of meteor showers, including orbital considerations.  I came up with some interesting conclusions and follow-up questions which will require a little research to pursue .  I'm not sure how many of them have applications in a Grade 9 setting, but I think it important to respect thought processes and follow where they lead.  If we can motivate students to get their own brains in gear, we will have achieved a significant objective. 
 
Now it's back to bed for awhile.  
*******
 
I look forward to your feedback, and to a long and happy association with this list which comes highly recommended by my friend Larry Wood among others.   
 
regards, Bruce McCurdy, Edmonton, Alberta