Satgen 553  Millenium Meteors ??  by GM4IHJ  (BID SGEN553)  1999-10-30

Last year we waited for the November 17/18th Leonids meteor shower ,
hoping it would be a big one. As sometimes happens roughly every 33
years just after Comet Tempel-Tuttle has passed by. What we got
however was a completely new version of this well documented shower.

Early birds who switched on their meteor scatter radio/TV watch for
pings/pictures from distant VHF stations, were surprised by rather
more meteors than expected during the early morning of the 17th.
Indeed by 2200 utc on 16th ,the pings and pictures were wall to wall
and clearly the product of larger than average size comet dust. From
about 0000 utc on 17th ,some observers still in bed but with the
window curtains drawn back were watching a steady stream of fireballs
. Activity which continued, as dawn began to reduce visual
observation, but on radio was seen to continue albeit gradually
decreasing until about about 1200 utc 17th. Only months later did the
truth emerge that this was a new version of the Leonids. In the shape
of larger than average comet debris particles, too big to be pushed
around by solar radiation pressure. Large particles which turned out
to be relics released by Tempel-Tuttle in 1333 and confined in a
Jupiter resonance orbit since then, forming a dense concentration over
a small localised section of the comets orbital track. A clump now
well past the earth and most unlikely to feature again for perhaps,
another 660 years or so.

Some observers, convinced this was a preview of a monster shower on
the night of the 18th , went to bed early to prepare for a marathon
event on the next night. But only a modest shower greeted them when
fresh from their slumbers they started operating. Only to be told by
the stalwarts who had stayed awake , just what they had missed.

So what can be expected from this capricious comet in 1999. Take your
pick. One group of European astronomers says " No big Shower". Others
beg to differ, pointing out that on previous 33 year returns of
Tempel-Tuttle, when the earth crossed the debris stream about 600 days
after the comet had gone past, there was a big shower.

Ever optimistic, GM4IHJ will have a radio tuned to the Lerwick
Shetland islands beacon GB3LER 50.064 MHz all 24 hours on the 17th and
18th. In addition European TV ( goes off at night) will be monitored
for audio carrier pings using an FFTDSP ( AF9Y) display tuned for
48.2533 MHz Scandinavian TV, plus a small narrow band black and white
E2 TV set looking at video returns from any of the 20 or so European
TV stations between 48.24 and 48.47 MHz, no need to tune, they all
come at once, hi. Normal peak anticipated at about 0100 utc 18th.

With the above equipment nothing should be missed, although chances of
seeing anything visually in the sky are slight . Noting that Scotlands
oceanic climate is of the sort where if you cannot see anything its
cloudy and, if you can see anything, it soon will be cloudy.
However ,lets be hopeful, because,  whether you brave the November
cold for visual counts or sit warm and comfortable observing radio and
TV pings, you might ?, just get, a real millenium special.