What's Up in Space -- 9 Oct 2001
METEOR SHOWER
The annual Giacobinid meteor shower (also known as the Draconids) peaks on October 9th and 10th. Most years the shower produces no more than a few shooting stars per hour for northern sky watchers. But there have been some impressive Giacobinid outbursts -- most recently in 1998. The shower's parent comet is far away, so this year's display will probably be modest.
Giacobinids dazzle observers - The Giaconibid meteor shower made a great sky show over Japan, and East Asia. We follow up last week's report with results from sky watchers across the globe.
Jiro Borovicka's page: raw graph of Draconid activity
OUTBURST OF DRACONIDS OBSERVED IN JAPAN AND CHINA
I M O S h o w e r C i r c u l a r
DRACONIDS 1998
Two orbital periods after the 1985 Draconid outburst, expectations were high for the night 1998 Oct 8-9. An outburst with activity of ZHR>500 occurred over Asian longitudes on 1998 October 8, 13h-14h UT. The informa- tion is based on visual reports as given by Koseki (Japan, 21 observers), a detailed report by Osada (Japan), reports from Xing Ming and Jin Zhu (China), a visual and video report by Jun-ichi Watanabe (Japan), radar observations by Simek (Czech Republic), radio observations by Ewen-Smith (Portugal) and Bus (the Netherlands).Details of the reports are as follows; all UT times refer to 1998 October 8, save for the last period:
Report by Masahiro Koseki (Japan, visual):
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Period(UT) ZHR +- [standard deviation]
0900-1000 14 6 (ZHRs were reported
1000-1100 23 11 by Koseki)
1100-1200 61 43
1200-1300 147 55
1300-1400 371 243
1400-1500 174 123
1500-1600 121 72
Detailed report by Kazuhiro Osada (Japan, visual):
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Period(UT) ZHR +- [1/sqrt(n)]
1050-1130 154 33
1240-1250 901 144
1250-1300 867 144
1300-1310 1082 165
1310-1320 1265 183
1320-1330 968 164
1330-1340 640 136
1340-1350 442 123
1350-1400 575 144
1400-1410 457 132
1410-1420 323 114 radiant below 20deg henceforth
1420-1430 302 114
1430-1440 193 136
Report by Jin Zhu (China, visual):
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Period(UT) ZHR +- [1/sqrt(n)]
1143-1227 230 45
Report by Jun-ichi Watanabe (Japa, visual-video):
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1200-1330 ZHR>200
1300-1330 28 GIA on TV monitor with lm~6.0 and a
field of view of 40deg x 20deg
Report by Zhou Xing Ming (China, visual):
-----------------------------------------
Period(UT) ZHR +- [1/sqrt(n)]
1336-1421 562 53
Report by Milos Simek (Czech Republic, radar):
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1330 maximum of 400 events per hour at unfavourable
radiant geometry
Report by Bev Ewen-Smith (Portugal, radio):
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-1000 no enhancement
1000-1200 increase of short events (<10sec)
1200-1400 4 events (10-20sec) per minute
1400-1415 decrease of short events, a few very large events (1min)
Report by Eisse Peter Bus (the Netherlands, radio):
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0700-0800 9 events >1sec
0800-0900 14
0900-1000 28
1000-1100 33
1100-1200 64
1200-1300 97 maximum suggested at 1245 UT
1300-1400 90
1400-1500 31
Report by Ilan Manulis (Israel, visual):
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1541-1741 5-7 per hour, group observation
1741-1836 1-2 per hour, lm=5.5-6.0
European results (visual):
--------------------------
Period(UT) nGIA ZHR
1715-1815 7 24 Helle Jaaniste (JAAHE), Estonia
1745-1818 2 6 Jurgen Rendtel (RENJU), Germany
1750-1821 4 15 Rainer Arlt (ARLRA), Germany
1818-1855 3 8 Jurgen Rendtel (RENJU)
1821-1853 2 7 Rainer Arlt (ARLRA)
1817-1913 7 12 Marco Langbroek (LANMA), the Netherlands
1833-1903 4 21 Ike Lysell (LYSAK), Sweden
1837-1926 4 10 Enrico Stomeo (STOEN), Italy
1855-1930 0 - Jurgen Rendtel (RENJU)
1853-1931 0 - Rainer Arlt (ARLRA)
1845-1945 7 40 Jaak Jaaniste (JAAJA), Estonia
1912-1926 0 - Stephen McCann, UK
2010-2045 2 13 Erico Stomeo (STOEN)
2242-2247 0 - Jurgen Rendtel (RENJU)
0250-0330 0 - M. Linnolt, California, USA [1998 Oct 9]
If not explicitely mentioned otherwise, ZHRs were calculated by
myself with r=2.0, alpha=262, delta=+54. A high proportion of
faint meteors were reported during the peak; the ZHRs may thus
be underestimated. We can conclude that the Draconid maximum
occurred at lambda_sol=195.078+-0.010 degress (eq. 2000.0).Rainer Arlt, 1998 Oct 9
October 9, 1998
Jin Zhu reporting from Xinglong, Hebei, China saw 26 Giacobinids (Draconids) between 11:43 and 12:27 Universal Time. Radio rates obtained from Europe also showed high activity of the Draconids (Giacobinids) between 13:00 and 14:00 UT. But thereafter rates must have fallen down to low levels. Between 17:50 and 19:31 only 6 Draconids were seen in Europe. Later on only occasional and therefore probably sporadic meteors were observed.
Carl Koppeschaar
October 7: Tune-up for the Leonids
1998 October Draconid prospects?
The 1998 Draconids and Leonids
DRACONIDS: POSSIBLE METEOR SHOWER ON THE EVENING OF OCTOBER 8th
On the evening of October 8th, there is a chance to observe a meteor shower of the Draconids. The Dracondis are debris from the periodic comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and are therefore also known as the "Giacobinids". Their radiant (apparent point of origin at the sky) is near the head of the constellation Draco, which has its highest point right after dark at midnorthern latitudes. So Europe will have a ringside seat.The Draconids produced spectacular meteor showers in 1933 and 1946 when a zenithal hour rate of some 10,000 meteors per hour was observed. Lesser showers occured in 1926, 1952 and 1985. The big showers took place in years when the parent comet was nearby. As Giacobini-Zinner again reaches perihelion in November this year, it is expected that activity might occur.
The Earth will pass 50 days ahead of the comet's orbit on October 8 at roughly 21 UT. This may be too far away for any significant Draconid activity to occur. However, in past cases the meteor activity always lasted for only a few hours with highest rates for only a few minutes. So watch to see if anything might happen. As others predict 17:45 UT as the possible peak location, it is advised to be alert right after evening twilight fades away into the night.
If no Draconid shower is to be seen, an almost certain opportunity of observing a genuine meteor shower will come next month, when the Leonid meteors may display 'storm' activity on November 17!
Carl Koppeschaar
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