[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: (meteorobs) Perseids in future
On Friday, November 22, 2002, at 05:27 PM, KCStarguy@aol.com wrote:
> I was pretty disgusted with the turnout of the Perseids on 3 nights.
> Low turnout and very few bright ones at all. It is amazing how bad the
> Perseids have been the last few years.
>
> I remember the Perseids were grand while watching up in new Hampshire
> and in Rhode Island in the 60's and 70's
>
There are some predictions:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/perseid_history_020806.html
"However, looking ahead into the future, a well-known meteor astronomer
suggests that the Perseids may yet provide some surprises. Esko
Lyytinen of Finland has made calculations concerning extra-dense
filaments of material trailing well behind comet. He concludes that the
Perseids may put on unusually strong displays in the year 2004 and
especially again in 2028.
In 2004, Lyytinen believes Earth will pass through a trail of debris
shed by comet Swift-Tuttle during its 1862 visit. The closest that
Earth will come to the center of this debris trail will be 112,000
miles.
"I would expect a short peak of a few hundred meteors per hour, though
they should be mostly quite faint," Lyytinen said. Most of Europe and
western Asia will have the best chance of viewing this unusual Perseid
shower.
In 2028, Lyytinen expects an even more dramatic Perseid display as the
Earth passes to within 37,000 miles from a stream of debris that comet
Swift-Tuttle released into space back in the year 1479.
"I expect this to produce a real storm [defined as 1,000 meteors per
hour or more] over the United States, although it will come under
rather unfavorable moonlight conditions," he said. The Moon will be
near Last Quarter, outshining some of the dimmer shooting stars."
= - - - - - - - =
Steven Kolins
mailto:smkolins@mac.com
http://homepage.mac.com/smkolins/
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
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
References: