[IAUC] CBET 1584: 20081125 : TAURID METEORS 2008

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 1584
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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TAURID METEORS 2008
     P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute, reports on numerous accounts of elevated
Taurid rates in the period Nov. 2-10.  G. Barentsen (International Meteor
Organization) has posted a summary of visual observations of the Northern
and Southern Taurid showers in 2007 and 2008 (http://www.imo.net/zhr),
showing that, in 2008, mostly Southern Taurid rates rose above their normal
annual activity (e.g., the rates in 2007) over a period corresponding to
FWHM = 3.0 +/- 0.7 degrees in solar longitude, with a peak rate (above the
annual rate) of ZHR = 8 meteors/hr at solar longitude 223.0 +/- 0.2 deg
(equinox 2000.0; corresponding to 4h UT on Nov. 5).  J. M. Trigo-Rodriguez,
J. M. Madiedo, and J. Alonso-Azcate (Spanish Meteor and Fireball Network)
observed many bright fireballs from an apparent radiant at R.A. = 51 deg,
Decl. = +14 deg, with a population index of 1.9 +/- 0.5 (N = 20) on Nov. 3
(solar longitude 220.9 deg), consistent with an enhancement of Southern
Taurids (geocentric radiant R.A. = 52.0 deg, Decl. = +13.6 deg; Jenniskens,
2006, Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets, p. 735).  Bright meteors were
seen from Oct. 29 to Nov. 7.  This may be a recurrent event, based on an
investigation by D. Asher (Armagh Observatory) and K. Izumi (Nippon Meteor
Society), who have pointed out that the Taurid showers are more active than
usual in a periodic cycle of 3.39 yr, presumably because of dust trapped in
the 7:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter, in such a way that the year 2008
falls in this cycle (Asher and Izumi 1998, MNRAS 297, 23).


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                         (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 November 25                 (CBET 1584)              Daniel W. E. Green