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 5 2005, 07:12 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Camelopardalids? Don't ask me why, but that name just sounds so... absurd, somehow...
-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 5 2005, 08:16 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
QUOTE (dvandorn @ Dec 5 2005, 01:12 PM) Camelopardalids? Don't ask me why, but that name just sounds so... absurd, somehow... -the other Doug The naming is unavoidable, as meteor showers are named for the constellation in which the radiant appears. For my own part, I find the name strangely pleasing. And yes, I know the constellation is "Giraffe". |
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Dec 5 2005, 09:58 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
QUOTE (dvandorn @ Dec 5 2005, 12:12 PM) Camelopardalids? Don't ask me why, but that name just sounds so... absurd, somehow... -the other Doug Camelopardalids sounds more like a name for a bug than it does a celestial event, but whatever... -------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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Dec 5 2005, 11:52 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 524 Joined: 24-November 04 From: Heraklion, GR. Member No.: 112 |
QUOTE (dvandorn @ Dec 5 2005, 09:12 PM) Camelopardalids? Don't ask me why, but that name just sounds so... absurd, somehow... -the other Doug The greek translation of camelopardalids is "the ones from the motley camel" , and the word "pardali" (motley) is also slang for "hooker". Try beating that for absurdiness |
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Dec 6 2005, 03:41 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 509 Joined: 2-July 05 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 426 |
QUOTE (TheChemist @ Dec 5 2005, 05:52 PM) Try beating that for absurdiness It's been done. There's an old story that claims the constellation Lynx was given its name because some celestial cartographer (can't remember which one) figured that a person would need the eyes of a lynx to see anything there. That's right... a constellation named after a joke, and not a great joke either. Admittedly, the above does have that "urban legend" feel about it. However, I've never seen it refuted. Perhaps it's just that nobody has bothered. |
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Dec 6 2005, 04:28 AM
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10146 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Ok, forget that hooker thing! That's nothing to do with it.
Leo (lion) + pard- (spotted, motley) = leopard - a spotted lion. Camel + leopard = critter with characteristics of a camel and a leopard, = a giraffe. Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Dec 6 2005, 11:24 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 510 Joined: 17-March 05 From: Southeast Michigan Member No.: 209 |
In terms of celestial names that are hard to chew for an English speaker, I've always been fond of the names of the brightest stars in the constellation Libra: Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali - according to Robert Burnham - "The Southern Claw" and "The Northern Claw" respectively
-------------------- --O'Dave
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Dec 6 2005, 11:54 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 524 Joined: 24-November 04 From: Heraklion, GR. Member No.: 112 |
QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Dec 6 2005, 06:28 AM) Ok, forget that hooker thing! That's nothing to do with it. Leo (lion) + pard- (spotted, motley) = leopard - a spotted lion. Camel + leopard = critter with characteristics of a camel and a leopard, = a giraffe. Phil Completely off topic, but, as far as I know: Leo + pard = spotted lion = leopardos/male, leopardali/female (greek) --> leopard (latin) Camel + pard = spotted camel = camelopardos/male, camelopardali/female (greek) --> camelopard (latin) The old slang use of "pardali" comes from many years ago when "professionals" wore colorful clothes |
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Dec 6 2005, 03:15 PM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
QUOTE (Rob Pinnegar @ Dec 5 2005, 10:41 PM) It's been done. There's an old story that claims the constellation Lynx was given its name because some celestial cartographer (can't remember which one) figured that a person would need the eyes of a lynx to see anything there. That's right... a constellation named after a joke, and not a great joke either. Admittedly, the above does have that "urban legend" feel about it. However, I've never seen it refuted. Perhaps it's just that nobody has bothered. Speaking of stellar jokes, a real one was done by the Apollo 1 astronauts. They put their names on several stars on a star chart they were using to practice celestial navigation for their 1967 space mission, which sadly never came to pass. http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15.postland.html#1051133 http://history.nasa.gov/ap16fj/02earth_orbit.htm http://www.obliquity.com/skyeye/88const/cas.html -------------------- "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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#11
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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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#12
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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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#13
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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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#14
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
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Jan 4 2006, 06:34 PM
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#15
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
QUOTE (helvick @ Jan 4 2006, 10:55 AM) Mad stuff. Does anyone know of any other research into this? Seems like reasonable research but it needs a bit more work to support the potential extra terrestrial origin claim. I'd say it needs a lot more work to support the ET claim; in fact, I can't believe that the journal acccepted this paper. "Gee, there was an airburst meteor at around the same time" is a tenuous connection at best, and certainly doesn't provide any explanation for the long-term persistence combined with the localization of the phenomenon; air masses move around! -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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