Posted on 01/07/2008 10:28:04 AM PST by blam
Meteors' mysterious origin traced to 1490 event
15:50 07 January 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Stephen Battersby
Last week's Quadrantid meteor shower was probably debris from a deep-space explosion that went off in the late 15th century, new observations reveal.
The meteors, which return every January, were observed more closely than ever before when a group of 14 astronomers tracked them for nine hours on a flight from California, US, to the North Pole.
They found that the shower peaked at around 0200 GMT on Friday, matching a prediction made by Peter Jenniskens of NASA.
He based his prediction on the theory that the shower originated in 1490, when observers in China, Japan and Korea saw a comet following a path similar to that of the Quadrantids. Apparently a sudden event caused the dormant comet to flare up – like Comet Holmes in October 2007 – leaving behind a stream of debris.
Jenniskens calculated that such a young stream should be narrow, and thus easily deflected by Jupiter's gravity. That would make it arrive a few hours earlier than if it were an older, more diffuse stream.
Friday's observations confirm the story. A closer analysis of the new data might also give astronomers some clues about what caused the outburst.
The 1490 event left behind at least one larger remnant, a near-Earth asteroid called 2003 EH1.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
Ping.
Wow, cool. Thanks for posting.
The clouds parted some for a while but no meteors were seen over about half an hour about 2 AM.
2010 and counting........
bump
Mini-Bangs?
Hidden universes?
The research aircraft left Ames (about 3 miles from our house) at 3:30 PM and flew to about 70 degrees N latitude, then turned around and came home. What a nice evening flight!
Last night (Sunday) I went out in my back yard (I live in the center of Savannah, GA) and got nice views of Holmes, Tuttle, Mars, the asteroid Ceres and M77, the active galaxy near by in Cetus. Considering I have more than 7 streetlights visible in my yard, it wasn’t bad viewing. It wasn’t near as cold either.
in 1490, when observers in China, Japan and Korea saw a comet following a path similar to that of the Quadrantids. Apparently a sudden event caused the dormant comet to flare up - like Comet Holmes in October 2007 - leaving behind a stream of debris... The 1490 event left behind at least one larger remnant, a near-Earth asteroid called 2003 EH1.Thanks Blam!
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