Kim asked:
Is there a specific technique for estimating meteor brightness?
I've heard serious amateurs who report a bolide as "brighter than Mars, but dimmer than Jupiter." It's then easy to find in S&T the approximate magnitude of those planets that night. Right now Mars is zero mag, Jupiter about -2 and Venus is -4. For the really bright ones, the half moon is -10 and the full moon is -12. I have seen a Leonid that bright and I heard it too. Listen for this phenomenon: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm DT ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
I've never heard a meteor, and I imagine that I've already seen the best meteor one could ever expect - short of becoming a meteorite. Unfortunately, I was only about 4, so my memory of it is not perfect. To me, the fireball seemed as large as a house. I could see significant mottling on the "surface" of the head, with bright oranges and deep reds, as it passed overhead from east to west. It illuminated my neighborhood more than the brightest Moon and all of the house and street lights combined. I was terrified and ran back into the house to tell my parents. I'm sure that "meteor" wasn't yet part of my vocabulary, because when I tried to describe it to my parents, they thought that I was exercising my always fertile imagination. I was vindicated the next morning, however, when my Dad read in the paper that such a fireball had been witnessed by others and that some even thought it might have landed in Nevada. My best estimate, given other things that I remember about that evening, is that it was in late autumn or early winter. So, anyone else on this list interested in astronomy, or will you continue to make me feel bad that I don't have a roadster of some sort? ;-) Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of daniel turner Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 10:22 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Aurigid report Kim asked:
Is there a specific technique for estimating meteor brightness?
I've heard serious amateurs who report a bolide as "brighter than Mars, but dimmer than Jupiter." It's then easy to find in S&T the approximate magnitude of those planets that night. Right now Mars is zero mag, Jupiter about -2 and Venus is -4. For the really bright ones, the half moon is -10 and the full moon is -12. I have seen a Leonid that bright and I heard it too. Listen for this phenomenon: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm DT ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net ______________________________________________________________________ Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.1/963 - Release Date: 8/20/2007 5:44 PM Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.1/963 - Release Date: 8/20/2007 5:44 PM
The brightest I ever saw, looked like it crashed in the mountains, I half expected to see a flash from an explosion when it struck ground!
Erik I've never heard a meteor, and I imagine that I've already seen the best
meteor one could ever expect - short of becoming a meteorite. Unfortunately, I was only about 4, so my memory of it is not perfect. To me, the fireball seemed as large as a house. I could see significant mottling on the "surface" of the head, with bright oranges and deep reds, as it passed overhead from east to west. It illuminated my neighborhood more than the brightest Moon and all of the house and street lights combined. I was terrified and ran back into the house to tell my parents. I'm sure that "meteor" wasn't yet part of my vocabulary, because when I tried to describe it to my parents, they thought that I was exercising my always fertile imagination. I was vindicated the next morning, however, when my Dad read in the paper that such a fireball had been witnessed by others and that some even thought it might have landed in Nevada. My best estimate, given other things that I remember about that evening, is that it was in late autumn or early winter.
So, anyone else on this list interested in astronomy, or will you continue to make me feel bad that I don't have a roadster of some sort? ;-)
Kim
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of daniel turner Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 10:22 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Aurigid report
Kim asked:
Is there a specific technique for estimating meteor brightness?
I've heard serious amateurs who report a bolide as "brighter than Mars, but dimmer than Jupiter." It's then easy to find in S&T the approximate magnitude of those planets that night. Right now Mars is zero mag, Jupiter about -2 and Venus is -4. For the really bright ones, the half moon is -10 and the full moon is -12. I have seen a Leonid that bright and I heard it too.
Listen for this phenomenon:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm
DT
____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
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It's a Sun Party. Some of us are just very particular about the conveyance we use to get there! Don't feel bad Kim. You can come too, even if your transportation doesn't involve adrenaline. ;o) On 9/3/07, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote:
So, anyone else on this list interested in astronomy, or will you continue to make me feel bad that I don't have a roadster of some sort? ;-)
And remember, Kim, that my little zoomer is a "weekend" car only...most of the time I drive a 16-year-old, rusted-out Ford. And that's the only car that my larger scopes will even fit into! * :o( *
On 9/3/07, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote:
So, anyone else on this list interested in astronomy, or will you continue to make me feel bad that I don't have a roadster of some sort? ;-)
I was able to coax my old '64 Bug from 0-60 in about 45 seconds. At times I could even pass other cars, that is if I got a running start from about 100 yards behind the other vehicle. Made it a real challenge to time things perfectly to catch up to the other car with enough speed to pass at about the same time as approaching cars had just passed me. The biggest challenge, though, was to keep up with jackrabbits in the sagebrush. Talk about adrenaline - now that was driving! Boy, do I miss that car. Too bad that I flew it off of I-15 early one morning - December, 1971. I'm still wondering if I survived the flight. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 12:51 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Aurigid report It's a Sun Party. Some of us are just very particular about the conveyance we use to get there! Don't feel bad Kim. You can come too, even if your transportation doesn't involve adrenaline. ;o) On 9/3/07, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote:
So, anyone else on this list interested in astronomy, or will you continue to make me feel bad that I don't have a roadster of some sort? ;-)
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net ______________________________________________________________________ Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.1/963 - Release Date: 8/20/2007 5:44 PM Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.1/963 - Release Date: 8/20/2007 5:44 PM
participants (4)
-
Chuck Hards -
daniel turner -
erikhansen＠TheBlueZone.net -
Kim