Meteor Shower Reveals New Comet Neo, October Camelopardalids |
Meteor Shower Reveals New Comet Neo, October Camelopardalids |
Dec 5 2005, 02:51 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
http://www.seti.org/site/pp.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=1233789
by Peter Jenniskens SETI Institute scientist and meteor expert Peter Jenniskens reports in a telegram issued by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (http://www.seti.org/site/pp.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=1233789) that an unexpected burst of meteors on October 5, 2005 has occurred, which betrayed the presence of a thusfar unknown, potentially Earth-threatening, comet. The burst of meteors radiated from a direction on the border of the constellations Draco and Camelopardalis, and the new shower is called the October Camelopardalids. The meteors were caused by dust ejected by an Intermediate Long-Period comet during its previous return to the Sun, and the detection of the comet's dust trail implies that the comet itself could wander into Earth's path, if so directed by the gravitational pull of the planets. The comet itself has not yet been discovered and is likely to return to Earth's vicinity only once every 200 - 10,000 years. Chances are very small that Earth will be at the intersection point at the time of the return, hence, there is no immediate concern. The dust, however, is forensic evidence that may provide more insight into the nature of this new comet when the meteor shower is seen again in the future. 2005 OCTOBER 5 OUTBURST OF OCTOBER CAMELOPARDALIDS Peter Jenniskens, Jarmo Moilanen, Esko Lyytinen, Ilkka Yrjölä, Jeff Brower http://www.seti.org/atf/cf/{B0D4BC0E-D59B-...}/WGNreport.pdf -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Dec 6 2005, 03:36 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Yep - without clicking the links, I can tell you the names were Regor (Roger spelled backwards, for Roger Chaffee), Navi (Ivan spelled backwards, for Virgil Ivan Grissom) and Dnecos (for Edward H. White II -- i.e., the Second, which Dnecos is, backwards).
-the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Dec 12 2005, 04:07 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
Paper: astro-ph/0512256
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2005 18:09:29 GMT (1409kb) Title: Origin and Dynamical Evolution of Comets and their Reservoirs Authors: Alessandro Morbidelli Comments: Lectures on comets dynamics and outer solar system formation. 86 pages, 34 figures, 180 references \\ This text was originally written to accompany a series of lectures that I gave at the `35th Saas-Fee advanced course' in Switzerland and at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii. It reviews my current understanding of the dynamics of comets and of the origin and primordial sculpting of their reservoirs. It starts discussing the structure of the Kuiper belt and the current dynamics of Kuiper belt objects, including scattered disk objects. Then it discusses the dynamical evolution of Jupiter family comets from the trans-Neptunian region, and of long period comets from the Oort cloud. The formation of the Oort cloud is then reviewed, as well as the primordial sculpting of the Kuiper belt. Finally, these issues are revisited in the light of a new model of giant planets evolution that has been developed to explain the origin of the late heavy bombardment of the terrestrial planets. \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0512256 , 1301kb) -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Jan 4 2006, 05:23 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
Paper: astro-ph/0601022
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2006 07:54:10 GMT (461kb) Title: The red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterrestrial origin Authors: Godfrey Louis and A. Santhosh Kumar (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India) Comments: 18 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science \\ A red rain phenomenon occurred in Kerala, India starting from 25th July 2001, in which the rainwater appeared coloured in various localized places that are spread over a few hundred kilometers in Kerala. Maximum cases were reported during the first 10 days and isolated cases were found to occur for about 2 months. The striking red colouration of the rainwater was found to be due to the suspension of microscopic red particles having the appearance of biological cells. These particles have no similarity with usual desert dust. An estimated minimum quantity of 50,000 kg of red particles has fallen from the sky through red rain. An analysis of this strange phenomenon further shows that the conventional atmospheric transport processes like dust storms etc. cannot explain this phenomenon. The electron microscopic study of the red particles shows fine cell structure indicating their biological cell like nature. EDAX analysis shows that the major elements present in these cell like particles are carbon and oxygen. Strangely, a test for DNA using Ethidium Bromide dye fluorescence technique indicates absence of DNA in these cells. In the context of a suspected link between a meteor airburst event and the red rain, the possibility for the extraterrestrial origin of these particles from cometary fragments is discussed. \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601022 , 461kb) -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Jan 4 2006, 05:55 PM
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#5
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
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