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Post Info TOPIC: Alpha-Aurigids


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Comet C/1911 N1 Kiess
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Comet C/1911 N1 Kiess

Orbital Elements at Epoch 2419306.5 (1911-Sep-27.0) TDB
Reference: JPL 3 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
 Element Value Uncer. (1-sigma)   Units 
e 0.996147726162723 0.00012892  
a 177.507687903916 5.9536 AU
q 0.683808222027755 5.027e-05 AU
i 148.419642192898 0.0011288 deg
node 158.6650662664478 0.00081714 deg
peri 110.3644578617303 0.008459 deg
M .03681099476490642 0.0018535 deg
tp 2419218.171830412093
(1911-Jun-30.67183042)
0.0037356 JED
period 863821.8351534774
2365.02
43459
119
d
yr
n .000416752604935065 2.0967e-05 deg/d
Q 354.3315675858042 11.884 AU
  Orbit   Parameters
obs. used (total)      80  
   data-arc span      71 days  
   first obs. used      1911-07-09  
   last obs. used      1911-09-18  
   planetary ephem.      DE405  
   SB-pert. ephem.      SB405-CPV-2  
   fit RMS      .6871  
   data source      ORB  
   producer      OSOD/JPL  
   solution date      2007-Jul-15   

Additional Information
 Earth MOID = .00263848 AU 
 T_jup = -0.843 

Source

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Alpha-Aurigids
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The source of the putative shower is Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1), a mysterious "long-period comet" that has visited the inner solar system only twice in the past two thousand years. In 83 BC, give or take a few centuries, Comet Kiess swung by the sun and laid down a trail of dusty debris that has been drifting toward Earth's orbit ever since. On Sept. 1, 2007, the dusty trail and Earth will meet.
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L

Posts: 131433
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On 1 September, the Earth will pass through an extremely fine band of dust and other debris left behind by Kiess when it passed the sun, way back in 83BC, which will light up the skies as the pieces tear into the atmosphere.

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L

Posts: 131433
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The best view of the meteors will be from the west coast of North America, before dawn on September 1.
Based on past showers, there should be up to 200 bright meteors visible per hour, and they may have an unusual blue-green colour. The shower probably won't return for at least 50 years. It's a once in a lifetime event.

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L

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A rare meteor shower predicted to hit Earth on 1 September should give astronomers only their second chance to study an ancient comet's crust.
 It could also help them develop a warning system against an otherwise insidious  threat a comet aimed at Earth from the dark fringes of the solar system.
September's shower, called the alpha Aurigids, has only been seen three  times before, in 1935, 1986 and 1994. The reason for this elusiveness is the  shower's unusual origin.

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
The Aurigids
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This coming September 1st  at about 11:36 ± 20 minutes UT (4:36 am PDT) the Earth will be passing through the dust trail of Comet Kiess, the only known case of crossing the dust trail of a known long-period comet in our lifetime. It'll create an impressive meteor shower called the Aurigids, since the meteors will appear around the constellation Auriga. The shower will be visible from California, Oregon, Hawaii and the Eastern Pacific, with best viewing towards the East and NorthEast.

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Alpha-Aurigids
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The peak of the Alpha-Aurigids is predicted to occur at 11:37 GMT. Observers in Eastern Asia are in an excellent position to view it.
Unfortunately the shower comes during daylight for Europe and much of North America. However, Western United States and Canada, as well as much of Alaska and Hawaii will still be in pre-dawn darkness.
A gibbous Moon, four days past full, could interfere with observing. But many of the meteors are expected to be very bright.

"So, maybe the moon does not make very much harm in the observations ... I hope" - Peter Jenniskens, NASA's SETI Institute in California.

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Aurigid meteor shower
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The Aurigid meteor shower in 2007 may be spectacular.

The prediction is found in a technical report, co-written by two astronomers who are targeting Sept. 1, 2007 as the date for the potential display.
The meteors are called "Aurigids" because they appear to radiate from the constellation Auriga the Charioteer.
The Meteor shower occur whenever the Earth passes through the dusty debris left behind by the Comet Kiess, which was last seen in 1911. Dense trails of dust travel along the orbit of the comet. Earth has had come close to a few of the se dusty clouds in 1935, 1986 and 1994, that produced increased meteor activity.
The comet takes approximately 2,500 years to orbit the sun

The astronomers Esko Lyytinen of Finland and Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in California have predicted that the earth will pass very close to the centre of a dust trail, in 2007 which would result in "a spectacularly rich shower of bright meteors."
No one is certain how strong next year's Aurigids may be, but on Friday, Jenniskens will make an announcement at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Prague concerning an "Aurigid Meteor Storm" of Sept. 1, 2007.
Meteor storms are typically said to involve at least 1,000 meteors per hour, a rate sometimes achieved only in 15-minute bursts. It is not clear what sort of hourly rate Jenniskens will announce as his prediction.

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Alpha-Aurigids
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The alpha-Aurigids meteor shower reaches maximum on September 1.

Augria-2007-8-9-16h53m

Active : August 25-September 8;
Maximum : September 1, 0h UT (sol= 158.158°);
ZHR : 7;
Radiant : alpha = 84°, delta = +42
V : 66 km/s
r : 2.6;
TFC : alpha = 052°, delta = +60°; alpha = 043°, delta = +39°

The alpha -Aurigids have short unexpected bursts having given estimated ZHRs of about 30-40 in 1935, 1986 and 1994, from a radiant in Auriga.

-- Edited by Blobrana at 17:24, 2007-08-09

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