The 2007 Ursid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign
In late December Jenniskens headed the 2007 MAC Ursid campaign. The shower is produced by ejecta from Comet 8P/Tuttle.
The Ursids shower of 2007 were predicted to peak between 2000 to 22:12 UT which favoured European observers. Radio observation
permitted me to observe the shower despite cloud cover and being on the wrong continent. As a station in NASA’s Global Meteor
Scatter Network, I submitted my initial radio data. The data from my forward scatter station, along those from others, were utilized Ames Research Center for analysis of the 2007 Ursid shower.
The shower was shakedown flight for the 2008 Quadrantid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign, on January 3-4.
Electronic Telegram No. 1188
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html
URSID METEORS 2007
P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute, reports on elevated Ursid shower rates
between Dec. 22d18h and 23d01h UT, identified as dust ejected from comet
8P/Tuttle prior to 900 AD (cf. CBET 1159). The outburst was detected in
radio forward-scatter meteor observations by E. Lyytinen (Helsinki, Finland)
during Dec. 22d18h-23d01h and by J. Brower (Vancouver, BC, Canada) during
Dec. 22d18h.5-22d22h.5. I. Yrjola (Kuusankoski, Finland) reports that 25
Ursid meteors and 16 sporadic meteors were captured on video, with a peak at
around 21h15m, the Ursids being slightly brighter on average than other
meteors that night.
The International Meteor Organization gathered visual observations from
19 observers, who measured a peak ZHR = 34 ± 5 Ursids/hr (vs. predicted
40-70 meteors/hr) at solar longitude 270.53 ± 0.03 deg during Dec.
22d21h12m ± 42m, based on 116 Ursids (assuming a fixed population index
of chi = 2.5). The predicted peak time was Dec. 22d20h-22d22h.2.
NOTE: These ‘Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams’ are sometimes
superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.
(C) Copyright 2007 CBAT
2007 December 31 (CBET 1188) Daniel W. E. Green
More to come…