We all remember the Apollo 13 drama where the crippled ship had to return to the earth hitting the atmosphere at a precise angle. Too steep an angle and the ship would generate too much heat from the friction of the air and cook the contents, as in too hot. Too shallow an angle and the ship would not slow down enough and would just punch through the curve of the atmosphere and keep going into deep space, as in too cold. The just right orbital insertion would make the ship slowly spiral down following the curve of the earth for over 90 degrees of longitude and splash down without cooking the inhabitants. Meteors follow the same orbital fates but are subject to some unfortunate myths that need to be busted. Myth one is that the shower only occurs at a single point in time. Facts are you can see meteors days to weeks before and after the showers “peak”. But our busy schedules and digital calendars only allow us one hour windows that must be booked weeks in advance when it’s impossible to predict what the weather will be. Myth two is that you have to wait until after midnight when the radiant is high above the horizon. This puts it into people’s sleep schedule which means they won’t even try to look. This last weekend in the early evening at SPOC some of us witnessed some spectacular fire balls. These were slow burning Lyrid meteors that began at the zenith and blazed of toward the southwest. Vega was just peaking its head up over the northeast horizon so these were hitting the atmosphere sideways and spiraling down slowly over a large 90 degree arc of longitude. One of them even lost its bright plasma envelope and turned into a dull red mars like point that slowly faded as it skipped of the atmosphere and returned to deep space, too cold. As we were packing up to leave around midnight people started showing up at SPOC because they had heard about the shower on the evening news. They were going to look only after midnight and only on one night. They missed the good stuff. DT
Good points, Daniel. Late July observing is always a joy because of two or three overlapping meteor showers, including early Perseids. In fact, the brightest Perseid that I've seen was not even in August, but late July. Many will remember seeing that particular bolide from Elizabeth Ridge in the Uintahs about 20 years ago.
From Pipe Springs NM during the Leonid storm of 2001, we began to see shower members as soon as it got dark on the 17th. It did not peak, however, until probably 3:00AM or so on the 18th. And, as it was getting light on the morning of the 18th, the third brightest fireball that I've witnessed streaked across the sky in the opposite direction of the radiant. I assume that means that it could not have been a Leonid, but maybe someone else understands differently.
I usually observe meteor showers (no scope, making timed counts of meteors observed, etc.) only at the predicted peak hours, because that's what I want to see, the peak, and I often don't have the time or get too worn out to observe many days before or after the peak as well. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of daniel turner Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 3:34 PM To: Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Goldilocks meteors We all remember the Apollo 13 drama where the crippled ship had to return to the earth hitting the atmosphere at a precise angle. Too steep an angle and the ship would generate too much heat from the friction of the air and cook the contents, as in too hot. Too shallow an angle and the ship would not slow down enough and would just punch through the curve of the atmosphere and keep going into deep space, as in too cold. The just right orbital insertion would make the ship slowly spiral down following the curve of the earth for over 90 degrees of longitude and splash down without cooking the inhabitants. Meteors follow the same orbital fates but are subject to some unfortunate myths that need to be busted. Myth one is that the shower only occurs at a single point in time. Facts are you can see meteors days to weeks before and after the showers peak. But our busy schedules and digital calendars only allow us one hour windows that must be booked weeks in advance when its impossible to predict what the weather will be. Myth two is that you have to wait until after midnight when the radiant is high above the horizon. This puts it into peoples sleep schedule which means they wont even try to look. This last weekend in the early evening at SPOC some of us witnessed some spectacular fire balls. These were slow burning Lyrid meteors that began at the zenith and blazed of toward the southwest. Vega was just peaking its head up over the northeast horizon so these were hitting the atmosphere sideways and spiraling down slowly over a large 90 degree arc of longitude. One of them even lost its bright plasma envelope and turned into a dull red mars like point that slowly faded as it skipped of the atmosphere and returned to deep space, too cold. As we were packing up to leave around midnight people started showing up at SPOC because they had heard about the shower on the evening news. They were going to look only after midnight and only on one night. They missed the good stuff. DT _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".
The brightest fireball I have ever seen was while driving my car.
Good points, Daniel. Late July observing is always a joy because of two or
three overlapping meteor showers, including early Perseids. In fact, the brightest Perseid that I've seen was not even in August, but late July. Many will remember seeing that particular bolide from Elizabeth Ridge in the Uintahs about 20 years ago.
From Pipe Springs NM during the Leonid storm of 2001, we began to see shower members as soon as it got dark on the 17th. It did not peak, however, until probably 3:00AM or so on the 18th. And, as it was getting light on the morning of the 18th, the third brightest fireball that I've witnessed streaked across the sky in the opposite direction of the radiant. I assume that means that it could not have been a Leonid, but maybe someone else understands differently.
I usually observe meteor showers (no scope, making timed counts of meteors observed, etc.) only at the predicted peak hours, because that's what I want to see, the peak, and I often don't have the time or get too worn out to observe many days before or after the peak as well.
Kim
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of daniel turner Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 3:34 PM To: Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Goldilocks meteors
We all remember the Apollo 13 drama where the crippled ship had to return to the earth hitting the atmosphere at a precise angle. Too steep an angle and the ship would generate too much heat from the friction of the air and cook the contents, as in too hot. Too shallow an angle and the ship would not slow down enough and would just punch through the curve of the atmosphere and keep going into deep space, as in too cold. The just right orbital insertion would make the ship slowly spiral down following the curve of the earth for over 90 degrees of longitude and splash down without cooking the inhabitants.
Meteors follow the same orbital fates but are subject to some unfortunate myths that need to be busted.
Myth one is that the shower only occurs at a single point in time. Facts are you can see meteors days to weeks before and after the showers peak. But our busy schedules and digital calendars only allow us one hour windows that must be booked weeks in advance when its impossible to predict what the weather will be.
Myth two is that you have to wait until after midnight when the radiant is high above the horizon. This puts it into peoples sleep schedule which means they wont even try to look.
This last weekend in the early evening at SPOC some of us witnessed some spectacular fire balls. These were slow burning Lyrid meteors that began at the zenith and blazed of toward the southwest. Vega was just peaking its head up over the northeast horizon so these were hitting the atmosphere sideways and spiraling down slowly over a large 90 degree arc of longitude. One of them even lost its bright plasma envelope and turned into a dull red mars like point that slowly faded as it skipped of the atmosphere and returned to deep space, too cold.
As we were packing up to leave around midnight people started showing up at SPOC because they had heard about the shower on the evening news. They were going to look only after midnight and only on one night. They missed the good stuff. DT _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club.
To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club.
To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".
participants (4)
-
Chuck Hards -
daniel turner -
erikhansen＠thebluezone.net -
Kim