Meteor Lights Up Atlanta Skies

Some stats on the meteor:

Initial speed: 23.6 km/s (52,800 mph)
Start location: 84.131 W, 33.981 N, Altitude 104.6 km (65.0 miles)
End location: 84.109 W, 33.524 N, Altitude 41.3 km (25.7 miles)

View from all sky camera located at Huntsville, Al.

View from all sky camera located at Tullahoma, Tenn.

 

View from all sky camera located at Cartersville, Ga.

The meteor was too bright for the all sky camera in Cartersville, Ga., to accurately determine the center of light, so manual analysis will be required to determine a more accurate end point.

8:06 AM | 0 comments | Read More

METEOR CRATER

The Meteor Crater in the state of Arizona was the first crater to be identified as an impact crater. Between 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, a small asteroid about 80 feet in diameter impacted the Earth and formed the crater. Meteor Crater Arizona, USA The crater is the best preserved crater on Earth and measures 1.2 km in diameter. For many years, scientists had denied that there were any impact craters on Earth. The origin of this crater has been a source of controversy for many years. The discovery of fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite help prove that the feature was in fact an impact crater.

Meteor Crater Arizona, USA From the Smithsonian Scientific Series (1929), taken by the U.S. Army Air Service. Public domain.

Meteor Crater Arizona, USA From the Smithsonian Scientific Series (1938), public domain.

Meteor Crater Arizona, USA From the "World's Greatest Wonders" (1930), public domain.

Meteor Crater Arizona, USA Photos taken by Jim Hurley in the winter of 1978.

http://www.nasa.gov/

1:21 AM | 0 comments | Read More

Geminids Meteor Shower: 'Up All Night'

you can still enjoy the best meteor shower of the year. The 2010 Geminid meteor shower promises to be lively, with realistic viewing rates of 50-80 meteors per hour and potential peaks reaching 120 meteors per hour. Anytime between Dec. 12-16 is a valid window for Geminid-watching, but the night of Dec. 13-14 is the anticipated peak.

Geminids are pieces of debris from an object called 3200 Phaethon. Long thought to be an asteroid, Phaethon is now classified as an extinct comet. Basically it is the rocky skeleton of a comet that lost its ice after too many close encounters with the sun. Earth runs into a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon every year in mid-December, causing meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini. When the Geminids first appeared in the late 19th century, shortly before the U.S. Civil War, the shower was weak and attracted little attention. There was no hint that it would ever become a major display.

What's going on? Jupiter's gravity has been acting on Phaethon's debris stream, causing it to shift more and more toward Earth's orbit. Each December brings a deeper plunge into the debris stream.

Meteor expert Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario (UWO) says the trend could continue for some time to come. "Based on modeling of the debris done by Jim Jones in the UWO meteor group back in the 1980s, it is likely that Geminid activity will increase for the next few decades, perhaps getting 20% to 50% higher than current rates."

A 50% increase would boost the Geminids to 200 or more meteors per hour, year in and year out. "That would be an amazing annual display," says Cooke.

Moreover, says Brown, "the proportion of large, bright Geminids should also increase in the next few decades, according to Jones' model." So the Geminids could turn into a "fireball shower."

Brown cautions that "other models of the debris stream come to different conclusions, in some cases suggesting that Geminids will decrease in intensity in the coming decades. We understand little about the details of the formation and evolution of Phaethon's debris despite many years of efforts."

Recent trends favor a good show. Enjoy the Geminids!

8:18 AM | 0 comments | Read More