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Re: (meteorobs) An unknown meteor storm seen in Finland in the 1960's

December 9, 2002

Greetings Esko!

Could it be possible that the unknown meteor storm 
was, in fact, the famous 1966 Leonid storm?  The
information that I read seemed to indicate this
possibility.  I am not sure, however, if the radiant
could have been that high in the sky during the 
evening, in Finland.

Long, bright, and stony Geminids!

Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA
 


--- Lyytinen Esko <Esko.Lyytinen@MINEDU.FI> wrote:
>  
> 
> I did know earlier that the husband of my wife's
> sister had seen a
> strong meteor storm, but that he didn't rememeber
> the year. According to
> his age, he could have seen the 1946 Giacobinids,
> and that is what I was
> of course thinking. I had been too stupid, not to
> ask enough erlier. Now
> that we talked about the Leonids storms and came to
> this again, it came
> as a strong surprise to me that the storm had
> happened much later. He
> remembers the place, where he saw it (the home of
> his mother then). 
> 
> The time window (the possibibilty to have observed
> in that location) for
> the storm is in the years 1960 to 1967. 
> 
> He remembers that it was dark, so probably not snow
> in the fields. So
> most probably it was in the autumn and it must have
> happened in the
> evening, probably before 22 local time. There was
> probably not (much)
> moonlight.
> 
> They first saw flashes outside thinking it to be a
> thunderstorm. Going
> out to see, there were shooting stars, 'hundreds'.
> He was quite familiar
> with individual shooting stars, and immediately
> recognized what they
> were. According to his description the meteors left
> wakes.
> 
> They (with his mother, who is not living here on
> Earth any more) were
> looking about South-East, or actually to every
> direction but the
> North-East direction was blocked by the building.
> The radiant was
> probably quite high but may have been behind the
> building.
> 
> He remembers that the meteors 'came down and not
> horizontally as he has
> sometimes seen'. 
> 
> He remembers a strong wind (maybe from South-East)
> with clouds drifting
> fast. But it was (practically) clear there. I am
> expecting that maybe
> the sky here in Finland was mostly cloudy, and they
> were lucky to have
> clear. He was a bit sorry that they didn't write
> anything down. After
> filling their 'curiosity', they left back inside,
> (althoug he well
> remembers the feeling of something very special). He
> can not tell, if
> the rates were increasing or declining. The
> observing period may have
> been as short as five minutes.
> 
> He has the impression that nothing was written in
> the daily newspapers
> on this, at least he didn't see.
> 
> The observation was made in Hyryla, not far from
> Helsinki.
> 
> Getting to know this, a week ago, I have been trying
> to find an
> explanation by means of modelling the Giacobinids,
> but not with success,
> at least not yet, and now think that such a strong
> storm would have
> already had an explanation, if it was Giacobinids.
> 
> Maybe the radiant was quite far North (as told
> probably in the Nort-East
> from the location). This would (to some degree) help
> to explain that it
> was not observed from more southern locations. The
> meteors may have had
> quite a big entry speed, because of the wakes that
> the meteors left.
> 
> In any case, I find the source very reliable and I
> am practically
> certain that such a storm really happened.
> 
> Might anybody have any observations (or thoughts)
> that could give some
> explanation or for example reject some years and/or
> showers (for example
> with Giacobinids)?
> 
> Esko
> 
>  
> 
> 


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