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GATES PLANETARIUM features a variety of programs for all ages, from star lore to the latest astronomical results. Call 303-322-7009 for current schedules.
Chamberlin Observatory features an operating 20 inch aperture Clark refractor. Public nights are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (please call 303-871-3222 for reservations), plus the Denver Astronomical Society hosts free Open House nights monthly on the Saturday near first quarter moon phase, weather permitting. The observatory also accomodates DU Astronomy Classes.
You didn't mention whether you are from the Denver area, but if so, the best new and used telescope store in the region is S&S Optika on South Broadway and Bellevue in Englewood, 303-789-1089. You will get expert, no-pressure advise from Kathy Havens, but bear in mind this is the holiday rush season. IF you can postpone til the new year, you can visit one or more of our observatory open houses at Chamberlin, 2930 E. Warren Ave., 6-10pm on SAT DEC 11th and SAT JAN 15th, etc. where members of the astronomy club display their various portable telescopes, WEATHER PERMITTING. It's a great way to see a variety of telescopes in action, talk with owners about likes and dislikes and generally get acquainted in a no-cost way. Hope this helps! Back to Question List
Thanks for your inquiry. Meteor shower watching can be fun, but a good
location and patience are required.
LEONIDS peak during the overnight Nov 17/18, depending a bit on the
year. Unfortunately, the average rate of Leonid meteors is very low -
under 30 per hour. This shower has very rarely shown extra bursts of up
to 100 or even 1000 meteors per hour - but these have been predictable and
associated with the earth passing near the source comet.
Some great info webpages, Nov.2007:
http://meteorshowersonline.com/leonids.html
http://seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/leo.html
http://cloudbait.com/science/leonid2004.html
http://cloudbait.com/science/showers2002.html
http://cloudbait.com/science/meteors.html
Annual variation in Leonid shower peak hourly rates
*1799Nov12,ÒthousandsÓ 1930Nov16/17, 120 at peak
*1833Nov12/13, 100,000 *1932Nov17, 240 at peak
1866Nov13/14, 2500 1933-39 avg. 30 per hour
1867, 1000 with moon 1940s-50s, 15 per hour
1868, 1000 1961Nov17, 50 per hour
1869Nov14, 200 at peak 1962-64, 20-40 per hour
1870 on, 15 per hour 1965Nov16, 100 at peak
1898Nov14, 200 per hour *1966Nov17, 144,000 per hour!
*1899Nov14, 40 per hour 1967-69, ~100 per hour
1901Nov14/15, 400 per hour 1970-on, 15 per hour
1903 on, 15 per hour 1994Nov17/18, 75 per hour
1995: 50 @ peak
1996: 60 @ peak
1997Nov17: 150 @ peak
1998Nov16/17: 60-300 per hour reported over US
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Radar observations 1998 Leonids from 16/11/1998 12 UT to 18/11/199812 UT.
* RAW DATA
In the following table, echoes are showed as function of duration. In
the second column of the table there are echoes with duration smaller
than 0.1 s; in the third column there are echoes with duration between
0.1 and 0.25 s; and so on.
Duration (seconds)
|0.1|.25|0.5|1.0|2.0|4.0|8.0| 16| 32| 64|128|256| tot
dd-mm-yy
16-11-98 12 | 10| 13| 15| 10| 3| 1| 1| 2| 1| | | | 56
16-11-98 13 | 10| 15| 11| 8| 5| 3| 2| | | | | | 54
16-11-98 14 | 27| 23| 20| 9| 12| 4| 1| | | | | | 96
16-11-98 15 | 13| 26| 14| 11| 5| 3| 4| | | | | | 76
16-11-98 16 | 12| 7| 5| 6| 5| 2| 1| | | | | | 38
16-11-98 17 | 19| 20| 15| 13| 3| 5| | 1| | | | | 76
16-11-98 18 | 35| 26| 15| 18| 5| 11| 2| 1| | | | | 113
16-11-98 19 | 31| 44| 34| 21| 6| 11| 2| | | | | | 149
16-11-98 20 | 53| 48| 35| 28| 20| 3| 1| | | | | | 188
16-11-98 21 | 31| 35| 15| 10| 11| 4| 1| | 1| | | | 108
16-11-98 22 | 60| 82| 32| 30| 24| 8| 6| 2| | | 1| | 245
16-11-98 23 | 47| 46| 27| 26| 7| 5| 8| 6| 1| 8| 14| | 195
17-11-98 00 | 25| 19| 10| 15| 14| 7| 2| 7| 3| 3| 21| 1| 127
17-11-98 01 | 6| | | 2| 2| 1| | 2| 2| 3| 33| | 51
17-11-98 02 | | | 2| | | 1| | | 2| 2| 33| 1| 41
17-11-98 03 | | | | | | | 1| 1| 1| 3| 32| 1| 39
17-11-98 04 | | | | | | 1| | | | 1| 28| 4| 34
17-11-98 05 | | | | | | | | | | 1| 33| 2| 36
17-11-98 06 | 4| 5| 3| 8| | 2| 5| 3| 1| 3| 34| | 68
17-11-98 07 | 3| 2| 2| 2| 4| 3| 6| 3| 3| 6| 31| | 65
17-11-98 08 | 10| 3| 10| 7| 5| 12| 4| 5| 7| 7| 21| 2| 93
17-11-98 09 | 22| 21| 12| 15| 10| 4| 8| 4| 15| 7| 13| | 131 *dmnh
17-11-98 10 | 30| 15| 20| 10| 14| 6| 6| 6| 4| 4| 3| | 118
17-11-98 11 | 22| 18| 13| 7| 9| 3| 5| 4| 4| 2| 3| | 90
17-11-98 12 |182|172| 99| 59| 32| 25| 7| 2| 3| | | | 581
17-11-98 13 |224|157| 88| 46| 40| 26| 4| 1| | | | | 586
17-11-98 14 | 3| 4| 4| | 1| 1| | | | | | | 13
17-11-98 15 | 3| 5| 1| 1| 1| 1| | 1| | | | | 13
17-11-98 16 | 7| 9| 7| 3| 1| 2| | | | | | | 29
17-11-98 17 | 6| 2| 3| 3| 1| 1| | | | | | | 16
17-11-98 18 | 14| 18| 13| 6| 5| 5| | | | | | | 61
17-11-98 19 | 27| 30| 16| 18| 13| 12| | 1| | | | | 117
17-11-98 20 | 55| 35| 35| 25| 14| 5| 7| 2| | | | | 178
17-11-98 21 | 47| 27| 21| 12| 16| 8| | 2| | | | | 133
17-11-98 22 | 78| 72| 48| 24| 18| 10| 3| | | | | | 253
17-11-98 23 |107|119| 58| 39| 29| 15| 2| 4| 1| | 1| | 375
18-11-98 00 |123|113| 68| 33| 27| 21| 9| 2| 2| 3| 1| | 402
18-11-98 01 |148|121| 73| 48| 36| 24| 14| 6| 5| 3| 3| | 481
18-11-98 02 |111|103| 56| 42| 30| 29| 17| 7| 3| 6| 7| | 411
18-11-98 03 | 94|101| 66| 39| 25| 24| 7| 6| 2| 2| | | 366
18-11-98 04 |114|103| 62| 47| 33| 19| 9| 6| 7| 2| 2| | 404
18-11-98 05 |135|102| 63| 44| 36| 15| 16| 6| 10| 3| 3| | 433
18-11-98 06 |110| 83| 62| 31| 19| 15| 8| 6| 3| 8| 5| 1| 351
18-11-98 07 |108|104| 59| 47| 33| 18| 10| 6| 4| 4| 4| | 397
18-11-98 08 |113| 91| 57| 37| 24| 15| 13| 11| 4| 2| 4| | 371
18-11-98 09 |122|120| 68| 52| 27| 19| 8| 6| 3| | | | 425
18-11-98 10 | 85| 95| 67| 55| 25| 14| 9| 4| 1| 1| | | 356
18-11-98 11 | 67| 61| 60| 44| 43| 22| 4| 9| 1| | | | 311
18-11-98 12 | 68| 64| 53| 39| 19| 24| 6| 4| | | | | 277
NOTE: In the morning of November 17th there was a peak characterized by
a large number of fireballs with very long duration echoes. This did not
allow the recording of meteors with small duration echoes, on account of
saturation effects. However, we would like to point out that in the first
hours of November 18th we recorded the predicted Leonid peak, but it was
characterized by a large number of small meteors.
We note also a peak between 12 and 13 UT of November 17th, with a huge
amount of evanescent meteors having duration less than 0.25 s.
This year is characterized by the presence of an unexpected peak (Nov.
17th) in addition to the known peak (Nov. 18th). We may suggest two
possible hypotesis:
1) non gravitational forces shifted the main peak?
2) a new zone of P/Tempel-Tuttle surface was active during its last
perihelion passage?
However, we stress that these are only first guess from raw data.
Further hypoteses can be made after a detailed analysis.
Cordially,
L. Foschini & G.Cevolani
Back to Question List
GATES PLANETARIUM features a variety of programs for all ages, from star lore to the latest astronomical results. Call 303-322-7009 for current schedules.
Chamberlin Observatory features an operating 20 inch aperture Clark refractor. Public nights are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (please call 303-871-5172 for reservations), plus the Denver Astronomical Society hosts free Open House nights monthly on the Saturday near first quarter moon phase, weather permitting. The observatory also accomodates DU Astronomy Classes. Back to Question List
MORE: Scientists looking at the Earth's early development theorize that our oceans and the seeds for life on Earth came from the frozen water and organics in comets. More recently there has been controversy about satellite imagery of the Earth that has some mysterious black spots on it. Some think that these may be large very loose "snowballs" impacting the Earth's atmosphere. They are not strong enough to make it to the surface and break up in the atmosphere. The jury is still out on this one...
So, will we ever get to see what a comet is made of? Other that spectroscopic studies and space probe flybys there is a project for a comet sample return mission. Lockheed Martin is built the "Stardust" spaceprobe for rendezvous with the comet Wild 2. Check out the web page at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/ Back to Question List
MORE: The final part of your question -would it frozen gases be considered a comet or an asteroid -they would be a comet. Back to Question List
Are we as a species up to the challenge of being able to prevent our own extinction from an asteroid? If we started today, we'd barely decide on a good plan and be ready to tackle XF11 before it got close. The most delightful suggestion is that we mine it to pieces, but the more likely scenario would involve nudging it into a less troublesome path. Simply blowing it up could leave a nasty schrappnel problem. With XF11, we have some time to develop skills. Another hazardous object might not give us so much notice. It's a test as to whether we as humans will succeed with our future in space. Back to Question List
Fragment recovery efforts are being coordinated by Jack Murphy, curator of geology at the Denver Museum of Natural History (303-370-6355), who has been compiling over 300 reports and trying to triangulate possible landing sites. Unfortunately, seeing the flash and even hearing a sonic boom may put a person no closer than 18 miles from the meteor, and there is no guarrantee that the rock(s) didn't vaporize fully into dust well above the ground.
HOWEVER...
"Coloradoans who were treated to a spectacular light show last weekend may have seen a piece of last year's bright comet. A review of the orbit of comet Hale-Bopp shows that it passed within 10 million miles of earth's orbital plane on May 6th. The earth passes that same ecliptic longitude early each calendar year.
The comet was moving at 30 km/sec at the time, nearly perpendicular to our orbit. Comets are known to leave extensive dust and debris in their wake, especially after a close sun pass. The separation between Hale-Bopp's orbit and the earth location on Jan.11th would require debris to come off the comet's path by 1% of the comet's speed, which is plausible. BUT SEE HOWEVER**
What may increase the odds that the meteor is part of the comet is the unusual west to east trajectory. Most objects in meteor showers radiate from east toward west, give or take a few sporadics. In fact, this week's meteor would be a "sporadic" bit of Hale-Bopp. Add to this the unusually large size of the Hale-Bopp nucleus, and its observed dramatic rotation and pinwheel of jet outflows, the likelihood of a considerable scatter of debris is even higher.
All of this makes finding the fragments of even greater interest, given that Hale-Bopp has only visited the inner solar system a few times and may be relatively pristine pre-solar materials.
HOWEVER--
In reviewing the orbital dynamics with local solar system expert, Hal
Levison, he insists that the connection is tenuous at best, because the debris
from Hale-Bopp would tend to continue moving along the comet's orbital track,
with very little radial expansion -- certainly not enough to reverse the
strong north-to-south motions to allow a fragment to enter our atmosphere
mostly from the west.
Interestingly, he noted the report during December 1997 by fishermen
along the coast of Greenland, of a huge meteoric event (flash and rush of air).
Weather and winter darkness have not permitted an inland search, but this
event could well have been a north to south moving fragment, more consistent
with Hale-Bopp origin, in principle. Thanks Hal for clarifying the above.
-----
Expert commentary:
"If the meteorite turns out to be a cometary fragment then it should also
be a classic, very primitive type of Carbonaceous Chondrite. These are
used as the standard for solar system abundances for the non-volatile
elements. As a rule this means that elements that segregated into the
Earth's core such as Iron, Nickel, cobalt, and the platinum group metals
will be much more abundant than they are in the earth's crust. The meteorite
itself should have some remnant of a fusion crust on the outside - but this
can be lost when the rock hits the ground and shatters. The inside of the
meteorite will look dark brown or black, may be very fine-grained and could
contain chondrules. Look at a picture of the Allende Meteorite as a possible
example, but note that the matrix to inclusion ratio is highly variable."
The isotopic distributions are normal for most elements, but there are
elements such as aluminum 26 and others that are made by cosmic ray
interactions that are diagnostic both of space exposure and of the time
that has elapsed since the meteorite fell to earth.
Dr. Joseph A. Nuth III
Head, Astrochemistry Branch
Code 691
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt MD 20771
Phone: (301)286-9467 Fax: (301)286-1683
----
Additional reports:
"At 7:00 P.M., January 10, Pam and I were driving east on Hampden,
approaching I-25, and we saw an unusually bright meteor descending to
the east. It angled slightly from right to left. I noticed that
there were no stars visible in that direction, and I had the
impression that the meteor had pierced through a layer of clouds.
Now I wonder whether there might have been more than one fragment of
Hale-Bopp that hit the Earth?
J. Donald Hughes
John Evans Professor of History
University of Denver
Telephone 303-871-2952
----
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 15:14:57 -0500
From: bird@lidar.ists.ca (John Bird)
Subject: meteor sighting at north pole
I was stationed at 81 deg. N latitude during the winter to
observe ozone and on Jan 31 0932 UT I saw an extremely bright
object (several magnitudes brighter than venus at its max brightness)
which I thought was a meteor but it was not moving.
It was captured also by a camera from the U. of Sask.
I and others saw other less bright non moving meteors
this winter. Could these be some special type of meteor
that slow down before disintegrating, possibly due to
an outer ablative layer? Perhaps we were seeing comet fragments?
Thank you for your consideration.
Dr. John Bird
URL
Office Phone : (416)665-5415, Fax : (416)665-2032
Lidar Laboratory,Center for Research in Earth and Space Technology
(CRESTech) 4850 Keele St. North York, Ontario, Canada. M3J 3K1
----
I wonder whether this would help
confirm Dr.Frank's idea of "interplanetary snowballs" pelting earth regularly,
and, just maybe, be icy bits of comets (like Hale-Bopp?) intercepting earth.
Back to Question List
You should take all the math and physics courses available at your school if you are serious about studying astronomy. Also, if they offer electronics and machine shop, those are valuable skills to develop early. Obviously you are familiar with computers, but do you know any programming languages, like BASIC, C++ or FORTRAN? That'd be another type of class to take, if available.
Regarding career info, if you have internet access, check this website: http://www.aas.org/career/careerbroc.html Back to Question List
GATES PLANETARIUM features a variety of programs for all ages, from star lore to the latest astronomical results. Call (303) 322-7009 for current schedules.
Chamberlin Observatory features an operating 20 inch aperture Clark refractor. Public nights are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (please call 303-871-3222 for reservations), plus the Denver Astronomical Society hosts free Open House nights monthly on the Saturday near first quarter moon phase, weather permitting. The observatory also accomodates DU Astronomy Classes. Back to Question List
GATES PLANETARIUM features a variety of programs for all ages, from star lore to the latest astronomical results. Call (303) 322-7009 for current schedules.
Chamberlin Observatory features an operating 20 inch aperture Clark refractor. Public nights are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (please call 303-871-3222 for reservations), plus the Denver Astronomical Society hosts free Open House nights monthly on the Saturday near first quarter moon phase, weather permitting. The observatory also accomodates DU Astronomy Classes.
(c) 1996, 1997, 1998
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