Orbital Elements of 2004 Perseid Meteoroids Perturbed by Jupiter

Jupiter and Saturn produce important gravitational impulses on meteoroids released by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The meteoroids from this comet once released follow retrograde orbits that during their periodic approaches to these planets (within 1.6 and 0.9 A.U., respectively) are impulsed gaining orbital energy. This perturbation effect is translated into a net inward shift in the node of the perturbed meteoroids. Such geometry with Jupiter occurred in 2004 over a meteoroid trail ejected by this comet during the 1862 A.D. return of the comet to perihelion. In order to study the predicted outburst produced by one-revolution meteoroids, the Spanish Photographic Meteor Network (SPMN) performed an extensive campaign. As a part of this observational effort here are presented 10 accurate meteoroid orbits. We discuss their origin by comparing them with the theoretical orbital elements of the dust trails intercepting the Earth during the 2004 Perseid return.     

A Heitler model of extensive air showers

A simple, semi-empirical model is used to develop the hadronic portion of air showers in a manner analogous to the well-known Heitler splitting approximation of electromagnetic cascades. Various characteristics of EAS are plainly exhibited with numerical predictions in good accord with detailed Monte Carlo simulations and with data. Results for energy reconstruction, muon and electron sizes, the elongation rate, and for the effects of the atomic number of the primary are discussed.     

Collective resonant phenomena on small bodies in the solar system

For both asteroids and meteor streams, and also for comets, resonances play a major role for their orbital evolutions but on different time scales. For asteroids both mean motion resonances and secular resonances not only structure the phase space of regular orbits but are mainly at the origin for the inherent chaos of planet crosser objects.For comets and their chaotic routes temporary trapping into orbital resonances is a well known phenomenon. In addition for slow diffusion through the Kuiper belt resonances are the only candidates for originating a slow chaos.Like for asteroids, resonances with Jupiter play a major role for the orbital evolution of meteor streams. Crossing of separatrix like zones appears to be crucial for the formation of arcs and for the dissolution of streams. In particular the orbital inclination of a meteor stream appears to be a critical parameter for arc formation. Numerical results obtained in an other context show that the competition between the Poynting-Robertson drag and the gravitational interaction of grains near the 2/1 resonance might be very important in the long run for the structure of meteor streams.     

Software timing calibration of the ARGO-YBJ detector

The ARGO-YBJ experiment is mainly devoted to search for astronomical gamma sources. The arrival direction of air showers is reconstructed thanks to the times measured by the pixels of the detector. Therefore, the timing calibration of the detector pixels is crucial in order to get the best angular resolution and pointing accuracy. Because of the large number of pixels a hardware timing calibration is practically impossible. Therefore an off-line software calibration has been adopted. Here, the details of the procedure and the results are presented.     

On the magnitude and direction of the anisotropy of galactic cosmic rays

The results of measuring the diurnal cosmic-ray intensity variations in the energy range 1–100 TeV are discussed. Whereas the phase of the first harmonic of the sidereal daily wave directly determines the phase (right ascension) of the cosmic-ray anisotropy vector, the amplitude and declination of the true anisotropy cannot be reconstructed directly from the amplitude of the first harmonic. However, they can be determined by invoking data on the zero harmonic. The results of some recent experiments purporting to measure the cosmic-ray anisotropy with a particularly high accuracy are shown to be interpreted erroneously.     

从中国目视资料分析1998年狮子座流星雨

本文分析了１９９８ 年狮子座流星雨的一部分中国目视资料。资料启示：１９９８ 年狮子座流星雨来自两股不同组成的流星体颗粒的不均匀混合流。按照这种观点进行了以这些目视资料为基础的计算,从而解释了目视观测与雷达观测所得结果之间的矛盾。     

Video Observations Of Leonids 1999

We analyse data obtained by different ground-based video camera systems during the 1999 Leonid meteor storm. We observe similar activity profiles at nearby observing sites, but significant differences over distances in the order of 4,000 km. The main peak occured at 02:03 UT (λ_⊙=235.286, J2000, corrected for the time of the topocentric stream encounter). At the Iberian peninsula quasi-periodic activity fluctuations with a period of about 7 min were recorded. The camera in Jordan detected a broad plateau of activity at 01:39–01:53 UT, but no periodic variations. The Leonid brightness distribution derived from all cameras shows a lack of faint meteors with a turning point close to +3^m, which corresponds to meteoroids of approximately 10^-3 g. We find a pin-point radiant at αalpha=153.65 ±0.1, δ=21.80 ±0. (λ_⊙=235.290). The radiant positionis identical before and after the storm, and also during the storm no driftis observed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Positioning requirements for the tsunami warning system

Abstract

Canada has increased the number of tsunami warning stations on the Pacific Coast from two to three. The last gauge was installed at the north end of Vancouver Island, thereby filling a large gap previously existing and providing full coverage along the coast. The record of gauges at two of the three locations is accessible either by telephone or by means of meteor burst communication, alleviating the difficulties experienced during the tsunami threat of May 6, 1986, when telephone communications were disrupted by heavy use. The gauge at Langara Island will be relocated in a more accessible and also a more tsunami‐responsive location at Rennell Sound in the Queen Charlotte Islands. All tsunami gauges also serve as tide gauges, recording the water level every 15 min. In the event of a tsunami, the recording interval can be altered to every 60 s. Suggestions have been made that Canada attempt deep‐sea recording of tsunamis off its Pacific Coast. Although this would be of great scientific value, no such program is contemplated at this time.     

Meteor Showers Associated with the Taurid Complex Asteroids

Recent theoretical and observational work has shown that the asteroids belonging to the Taurid meteoroid complex have a cometary nature. If so, then they might possess related meteoroid streams producing meteor showers in the Earth atmosphere. We studied the orbital evolution of ten numbered Taurid complex asteroids by the Halphen-Goryachev method. It turned out that all of these asteroids are quadruple crossers relative to the Earth's orbit. Therefore their proposed meteoroid streams may in theory each produce four meteor showers. The theoretical orbital elements and geocentric radiants of these showers are determined and compared with the available observational data. The existence of the predicted forty meteor showers of the ten Taurid complex asteroids is confirmed by a search of the published catalogues of observed meteor shower radiants and orbits, and of the archives of the IAU Meteor Data Center (Lund). The existence of meteor showers associated with the Taurid Complex Asteroids confirms that, most likely, these asteroids are extinct comets. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.