NAMN Notes is a monthly newsletter produced by the North American Meteor Network and is available both via email and on the NAMN website at: http://www.namnmeteors.org
1. March Meteors...
2. Invitation to Observers - Come to Holland!...
3. A Polish Comet for Winter Skies...
4. Other Neat Things to Observe in March...
5. Upcoming Meetings...
6. For more info...
Welcome to March! Hopefully you all are getting some clear skies in your own little part of the globe - and some temperatures not too cold for meteor observing.
March is a fairly quiet meteor month, but there is still enough activity to keep observers busy. The skies are an interesting blend of winter constellations and summer ones rising up in the eastern pre-dawn sky. It is really amazing to see the 'Summer Triangle' blazing away in the morning sky when there's a windchill of -30C outside for us northern observers. For beginning observers, the 'Summer Triangle' refers to the 3 stars Vega (in Lyra, the lyre), Deneb (in Cygnus, the swan) and Altair (in Aquila, the eagle). And to top it off, we even have a nice little comet headed for the triangle as well - Comet Pojmanski. We've included some info on the comet later in the newsletter.
So - on to meteors. By the way, if you haven't printed yourself off a copy of the International Meteor Organization's (IMO) '2006 Meteor Shower Calendar', print off a (free) copy from the IMO website at http://www.imo.net/calendar/2006. It's a great reference for showers throughout the year.
The delta Leonids (DLE), although having peaked back on February 24th, can still be seen until about March 10th. These are slow meteors with a velocity of about 23 km per second, so will be fairly distinctive. ZHR rates at maximum were about 2 meteors per hour, but rates in March will be lower. A map showing the radiant position can be found at http://www.imo.net/calendar/2006/winter
What is ZHR? ZHR refers to Zenithal Hourly Rate, and is the number of meteors that an observer would expect to see in an hour, on average, if they are observing under a dark country sky, with no moon, and if the radiant, the area in the sky where the meteors seem to come from, is directly overhead at the zenith.
The gamma Normids (GNO) reach a peak on March 13th, although can be seen until about March 22nd. These are fast meteors, with a velocity of about 56 km per second. ZHR rates at maximum will be about 8 meteors per hour. With a radiant about 30 degrees south of the top of the 'J' of Scorpius, this is primarily a southern shower. According to the International Meteor Organization, "the shower badly needs more regular observation... in 1999 independent observations... suggested the peak may have fallen on March 17." Observations are encouraged for all possible dates. A map of the radiant can be found at http://www.imo.net/calendar/2005/winter
The Virginids (VIR) started to become active about January 25th, and last until about April 15th. These are almost slow meteors at about 30 km per second. ZHR rates are about 5 meteors per hour. Radiant positions throughout the month of March are as follows:
Feb. 28 178 +3 ie. RA 11h 52.2m Dec +3 Mar. 10 186 +0 ie. RA 12h 24m Dec +0 Mar. 20 192 -3 ie. RA 12h 48m Dec -3 Mar. 30 198 -5 ie. RA 13h 12m Dec -5
For other minor showers not on the International Meteor Organization, 'Working List of Visual Meteor Showers', and for a wealth of historical information on all showers, check out Gary Kronk's 'Comets and Meteor Showers' website at http://comets.amsmeteors.org
Besides March's main activity and other minor showers, there is also sporadic meteor activity. This sporadic meteor activity is about 7 meteors per hour visible to the unaided eye. Some of these are random and some belong to old untraceable meteor showers.
If you want to record visual data for the meteor researchers, check out our NAMN Observing Guide for information on what to record. Our Guide can be found at http://www.namnmeteors.org/guide.html. We record such info as the time a meteor occurred, its magnitude (brightness), the shower it belongs to, its speed, and other comments such as train left behind, or color. General information to record includes such things as how dark your perceived sky is (limiting magnitude), and comments on weather and cloud cover. If you have any questions, drop a note to our NAMN Coordinator at meteors@comcast.net
NAMN has some good star charts to mark your radiants on before you go out observing. These charts also show constellations for the whole sky, and give the brightness of a number of stars to use in judging the magnitude of the meteors you see. Our 4 printable charts can be found at http://www.namnmeteors.org/charts.html. Set your printer to 'landscape' mode.
Forms to record your observations can be found at http://www.namnmeteors.org/namn_form.html and http://www.namnmeteors.org/appendixC.html
Want to meet amateur meteor observers from all around the world - and chat to meteor professionals as well? Come to Holland in September!
This year, the IMC, the International Meteor Conference of the International Meteor Organization, is being held near the village of Roden, in the province of Drenthe, in the northern part of the Netherlands. The dates are September 14th to 17th. It is being hosted by the Meteor Section of the Dutch Association for Meteorology and Astronomy.
This annual get-together has talks on all aspects of meteor observing - whether you are a beginner or a more experienced observer. The talks cover all kinds of observing - visual, telescopic, photographic, video, and radio. It is a wonderful learning experience, and also a great excuse to explore this part of Europe!
The registration fee is 120 Euros, and includes the conference, all meals, all accommodation, an excursion, and a conference t-shirt. For more information, check out http://www.imo.net/imc2006
The excursion is to visit 'Lofar', the Low Frequency Array, which will be, when completed, the largest radio telescope in the world - 25,000 antennas are being placed in the northern provinces of the Netherlands and Germany. This array will observe electromagnetic radiation with frequencies from 10 to 250 MHz, and is expected to detect signals of the first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang.
Several special workshops will be held prior to the main conference. As these will have an additional charge, contact the organizers for more details.
A Meteor Orbit Determination (MOD) Workshop will be held from the 11th to the 13th prior to the main conference. The contact person for more info is Detlef Koschny at Detlef.Koschny@esa.int
There will also be a Radio Meteor School from the 11th to the 13th, at which several astronomers will give lectures on the physical and mathematical theory of radio meteor observations. For more information on the radio school, contact the IMC organizers at imc2006@imo.net
Accommodation for the IMC and the extra workshops will be at the Groepsaccomodatie de Hullen, a youth accommodation. There are 8-bed, 10-bed and 12-bed rooms for attendees, a bar, a recreation room and a conference area. It promises to be lots of fun, with lots of lively discussions throughout the days and evenings.
Come to Holland - mark your calendar now!
And by the way - why not consider joining the International Meteor Organization? You do not have to be a member to come to the conference (all are welcome), but it's a wonderful organization to join.
What do you get by joining? The main benefit is the publication called WGN. It's in English, and has articles on meteors written by observers around the globe - historical information, analysis of meteor showers, meteor poetry, articles on neat observing projects. It's very worthwhile. How do you join? Membership costs only $24 US (or 20 Euros) a year and includes the publication. For more details, go to http://www.imo.net
On January 2nd, Grzegorz Pojmanski of the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory in Poland found a new comet - on an image taken the day before in Chile. It has been designated as Comet C/2006 A1 Pojmanski.
Originally in the southern sky, it has now moved to the northern sky. It appeared just to the left of the very brilliant planet Venus low in the southeast in the pre-dawn sky, and is now moving up and headed towards the constellation of Delphinus, the dolphin. From there it will head over to Cygnus, and beyond. It started March off at about magnitude 5.5, and is fading - but will still be a nice object in amateur telescopes for the next several months.
Day by day coordinates for March for Comet Pojmanski can be printed off from the Harvard website at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/Ephemerides/Comets/2006A1_1.html
Printable finder charts can be found on the following websites:
Astrosite Groningen by Reinder Bouma and Edwin van Dijk: http://www.shopplaza.nl/astro/
Kometarium by Burkhard Leitner: http://www.kometarium.com
Skyhound by Greg Crinklaw: http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html
March may be a bit quiet on the meteor front, but there are lots of other things to tempt you to get outside this month.
Planets at midmonth, and their magnitudes, for northern observers, are:
Venus -4.4 low in east-southeast morning twilight (brilliant!) Jupiter -2.3 in Libra Saturn 0.0 in Cancer Mars 0.9 in Taurus
For a sky chart showing the positions of all the planets visible this month, go to http://www.heavens-above.com, select your country, then your city, and go to 'Whole Sky Chart'.
The phases of the moon for March are as follows:
Mon. Mar. 6 first quarter Tues. Mar. 14 full moon Wed. Mar. 22 last quarter Wed. Mar. 29 new moon
For a great printout of moon phases for the month, check out http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon
On Tuesday March 14 there will be a total penumbral lunar eclipse. With the unaided eye the moon will be completely in (a faint) shadow from 23:18 UT (Universal Time, same as time in Greenwich, England) until 0:18 UT on March 15. Apparently this is one of only 5 such events during the 21st century. The event starts at 21:22 UT and ends at 2:14 UT on March 15th. It is best visible from Europe and Africa, but can be seen over most of North America except the west coast. The very southern part of California should be able to see it. For North American observers, the moon will already have a light shadow on it when it rises. Stay tuned to the Sky and Telescope website for more information: http://skyandtelescope.com
On Wednesday March 29 there will be a total solar eclipse visible from a very narrow line running through Brazil, northern Africa and central Asia. A partial solar eclipse will be seen over Europe, and the rest of Africa and Asia. However - being a solar eclipse - involving the sun - eye protection is needed or you can lose your eyesight. For information on safe viewing, and what to use, check out the Sky and Telescope article at http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/sun/article_1260_1.asp
Lastly, for observers out on Saturday March 25th, the asteroid Ceres will be 0.8 degrees south of the moon. And - if you live in central and eastern North America, western Europe including the British Isles, or northwestern South America - you can watch Ceres pass behind the moon - and come out the other side. Actually, that would be really neat to see! For more information on this event, check out the IOTA website later in March at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm
May 12-14, 2006, Vienna, Austria...
MACE 2006, the Meeting on Asteroids and Comets in Europe, will be held in
Vienna, Austria at the historic Kuffner Observatory. The scientific program
will be divided into 4 sessions - astrometry and celestial mechanics, the
physical study of asteroids and comets, instrumentation and techniques, and
workshops and hands-on practice. Excursions include visits to the Vienna
University Observatory, where Johann Palisa used the (then) largest
refractor in the world to discover asteroids, and to the famous meteorite
collection of the Natural History Museum, the largest of its kind in the
world. And - this is Mozart Year in Austria! For details, check out the
conference website at http://www.astrometrica.at/MACE
June 8-14, 2006, Ostersund, Sweden...
The Workshop on Impact Craters as Indicators for Planetary Environmental
Evolution and Astrobiology will be held in Ostersund, Sweden. Sessions
include terrestrial craters, craters on other planetary bodies, the
influences of the impact on the target area, the target area on the fate of
the projectile, and the properties of the impactor on the cratering process,
other consequences (eg. tsunamis), environments created by the impact and
their importance for life, and astrobiological aspects of impact cratering.
There will be two study field trips to the Lockne Crater, and an excursion
to the GeoCenter-Lockne Impact Crater Museum. For information, check out
the website at
http://www.geo.su.se/Lockne2006 and contact Dr. Jens Ormo of
the Planetary Geology Laboratory, CSIC/INTA, Madrid, Spain at ormo@inta.es
July 10-14, 2006, Singapore...
The AOGS, Asia Oceania Geosciences Society, will hold its 3rd Annual Meeting
in Singapore. Jeremie Vaubaillon has advised us that there will be a
special session on the field of meteor science. Topics covered at the
conference are quite varied - invited speakers include G. Consolmagno of the
Vatican Observatory on 'Evidence from Meteorites', Cheng Fang of Nanjing
University on 'Spectroscopic Approaches to Solar Flares: A Review', Paul
Jones of the Australia Telescope National Facility on 'Radio Observations
from Australia of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 for Deep Impact', and Dave Anderson of
NOAA on 'Solar Activity and Indian Monsoons'. The deadline for abstract
submission is February 15th. The deadline for reduced fees for registration
is May 15th. For information, check out the website at
http://www.asiaoceania-conference.org and contact
info@asiaoceania-conference.org
September 14-17, 2006, Roden, The Netherlands...
The IMC, the International Meteor Conference of the International
Meteor Organization, will be held near Roden in the Netherlands. This is
the annual get-together for both amateur meteor observers and professional
researchers alike. Talks will cover all types of meteor observing - visual,
telescopic, photographic, video, and radio. The registration fee is 120
Euros, and includes the conference, all meals, all accommodation, an
excursion, and a conference t-shirt. Special workshops will be held on
meteor orbit determination and radio meteors from September 11th to 13th,
with a separate fee. Mark Holland on your calendar for September! For more
info, check out http://www.imo.net/imc2006
For information on upcoming astronomy meetings, see: "International Astronomy Meetings List" at http://cadcwww.hia.nrc.ca/meetings
NAMN email: namn@namnmeteors.org
NAMN website: http://www.namnmeteors.org
Mark Davis, meteors@comcast.net
Goose Creek, South Carolina, USA
Coordinator, North American Meteor Network
Cathy Hall, chall@cyberus.ca
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Writer, NAMN Notes
Lew Gramer, dedalus@alum.mit.edu
Homestead, Florida, USA
Coordinator, Public Outreach
Owner/Moderator, 'MeteorObs'
Kevin Kilkenny,
namnfireball@earthlink.net
Staten Island, New York, USA
Coordinator, Fireballs and Meteorites
Back issues of NAMN Notes can be found on-line at the NAMN website
and in the MeteorObs archives at:
http://www.meteorobs.org
by selecting 'Browse Archive by Month'
To subscribe to the meteor email list or
to find out information on our weekly chat sessions:
Contact Lew Gramer at:
dedalus@alum.mit.edu