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Page 2
Saturn, in Gemini, rises around 2:00 a.m. D.S.T. now, but by the end of September will rise around midnight. (Looking ahead, December's gonna be a great month for planets, huh?)
Typically, the Alpha Aurigids produce a ZHR of only 7 meteors per hour, but there have been three observed outbursts, with ZHRs of 30 to 40 meteors per hour. These occurred in 1935, 1986 and 1994. Only three observers saw the 1986 and 1994 outbursts. Any useful visual data will be the result of very careful plotting. Very, very careful plotting. The Piscids typically produce a ZHR of only 3 meteors per hour. Even I wouldn't get out of bed for that, but that doesn't mean others shouldn't. Observations might help determine whether this is a single radiant, or a complex of radiants. Throughout the month, observers might spot a handful of slow, faint meteors from this/these radiant(s) during the course of the night. Those are a lot of odds and ends, I guess, but any one of 'em is enough to get me outside. Here's something I recently learned: the greatest number of visually discovered asteroids have been discovered in September. One reason is asteroid hunters usually search in the midnight sky opposite the sun. In September that means the star-poor region of Pisces and its neighbors. Star-poor regions make it easier to spot asteroids. Also, a large number of asteroids are at perihelion in Pisces. This is because gigantic Jupiter, which pulls on all those little rocky asteroids, is itself at perihelion in Pisces. "September Odds and Ends" © 2003 Gregg M. Pasterick - All Rights Reserved. Artist's rendition of Mars and the Neanderthals 60,000 years ago © Science@NASA Visit their website at http://science.nasa.gov/ Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article September Odds and Ends - Page 2 in Amateur Astronomy is owned by Gregg Pasterick. Permission to republish September Odds and Ends - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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