* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Alpha-Aurigids

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Alpha-Aurigids Meteors

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Alpha-Aurigids

Blobrana · L

Utah State University senior Dan Burton and his physics professor Mike Taylor got to see a rare meteor shower from 47,000 feet this weekend.
On Saturday, the two were among a 24-member, international team of scientists that took to the night sky in two privately owned jets for the NASA-sponsored Aurigid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign Mission.
Their task: to take photographs of the shooting stars that may provide scientists with clues about the formation of the solar system.

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Blobrana · L

The peak of activity occurs at about UT 11:30, very near the predicted time of 11:36. The peak may appear artificially narrow since it extends into daylight.
Nearly all the events happened between 10:40 and 11:40 UT

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On Sept. 1, 2007, a flurry of bright and oddly-coloured meteors mightemphasis on might - come streaming out of the constellation Auriga, putting on a beautiful early morning show for sky watchers in western North America.

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Blobrana · L

Peak time: about 11:33 ± 20 minutes UT (= 04:33 a.m. Pacific Daylight Savings Time), September 1, 2007.
Project News
ZHR = 200 per hour (10-minute interval)
Shower radiant: constellation Auriga (Radiant ~ RA = 92, Dec. = +39)
Speed: Vinf = 66 km/s

Blobrana · L

It's never before been photographed. Only three people alive today have ever reported seeing it. And after it makes an appearance early Saturday, scientists believe, it likely won't be visible again during our lifetime.
Astronomers, still a little bleary-eyed from this week's early-morning lunar eclipse, will be keeping their eyes steadfastly on the skies around 4:36 a.m. Saturday, in search of the elusive Aurigid meteor shower. The display of shooting stars has been observed only in 1935, 1986 and 1994 and caught scientists off guard every time.

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An unusual shower on September 1, 2007

Some time in the 40 years or so around 4 A.D., comet Kiess (C/1911 N1) passed by the Sun, ejecting a cloud of dust particles. The comet returned in 1911, after completing one orbit. The dust particles were pushed by the Sun's light into slightly wider orbits and have been returning ever since, forming a thin ongoing stream of dust that usually passes just outside Earth's orbit. On occasion, the combined gravity of the solar system's planets moves this dust trail into Earth's path. Earth encountered this 2000-year-old dust in 1935, 1986, and 1994, causing a meteor shower known as the Aurigids.
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The Aurigid Laptop Meteor Observation Project
On Friday night/Saturday morning, August 31/September 1, when we will have an outburst of the Aurigid meteor shower. An outburst is a sudden, short burst of a lot of meteors. They're very difficult to predict, but the best guess just now is that there will be about 200 meteors visible per hour at the peak -- but the peak comes at 4:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time, which means that it won't be visible from anywhere but the western United States and Hawaii. I have put together a scheme to permit a multitude of people to participate in a unique scientific experiment.

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