[meteorite-list] Upcoming Meteor Shower

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jul 30 10:55:27 2004
Message-ID: <410A60D8.4CC651EF_at_kconline.com>

Hi Peanut Curt and all :-),

I will add here in the beginning that meteor showers and meteorites are
not related as meteors come from comet streams that the Earth crosses.
Most of the material from comets are very fine particles. Not to say we
couldn't get a chunk from these streams but there still isn't any
meteorite that is associate with a meteor shower yet though we suspect
there could be some in the CI classification. Meteorites as you know
mostly come from the asteroid belt and collisions that allows material
to get into one of the kirkwood gaps and later get perturbed into an
Earth crossing orbit due to Jupiter's gravity.

A number of things related to this is first you need a good dark sky
away from light pollution and with a good view of the northeast to
eastern sky. It also helps if it isn't cloudy :-) Best times to view
this event is after midnight till dawn on August 12th.
A few days before or after this time will still yield nice bright, fast
meteor streaks. They radiate from the constellation of Perseus and look
to be moving away from that spot 360 degrees. Sometimes you pick up
sporadic meteors not related to the Perseid Shower. There are some
secondary showers during that time. Sky watchers can expect to see
dozens, possibly even hundreds, of meteors per hour during these times.

The Moon is new in mid-August; so moonlight won't spoil the show this
year.
Second, in addition to the usual shower on August 12th, there might be
an extra surge of meteors on August 11th caused by a filament of dust
newly drifting across Earth's orbit.

According to a NASA website it states: If predictions are correct, Earth
will plow through the filament on Wednesday, August 11th at 2100 UT (5
p.m. EDT). This will produce a surge of mostly faint meteors over Europe
and Asia. Observers might see "as many as 200 meteors per hour," says
Cooke, who recommends getting
away from city lights to watch the flurry. Later that night, observers
in North America can see the "traditional Perseid peak" caused by the
older dust from Swift-Tuttle. "Expect 40 to 60 meteors per hour, some of
them bright,"

For more information and the source of some of the information I gave
here see this web site. Good viewing!

h t t p://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/25jun_perseids2004.htm

--AL Mitterling
Mitterling Meteorites
Received on Fri 30 Jul 2004 10:53:13 AM PDT