660921Meteor2_p1

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                      THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

                  STANDING COMMITTEE ON OBSERVATIONAL ACTIVITIES
                                                                      Bulletin No. 2

                                   METEOR SECTION


Meteor observing is a field in which amateurs without specialized equipment can make
an important contribution. The prime requirements are enthusiasm, knowledge of the
constellations, and a willingness to stay awake when the majority of citizens are
sleeping. Other things being equal, more meteors are observed between midnight and
dawn than between dusk and midnight. With some thought, it becomes apparent that
thos arriving before midnight have to overtake the earth, while those in the early
hours of the morning are meeting the earth bead-on. Thus the latter will tend to
be brighter with more of then.

Meteor observing is a field in which the junior member of a Centre can come into his
(or bert) own. In Ottawa, we have two groupe of experienced observers composed of
high school students (Riflorest and Queensway). If you are thinking of starting Cr
expanding a meteor observing group, include high school pupils in your recruiting -
after a short period of training the students will develop into very effective
observers.

The first bulletins of the Meteor Section will deal with topics such as setting up a
visual observing station, the type of information gathered by visual observers, and
the recovery of meteorites after a suspected fall. Later bulletins will deal with
meteor photography and spectroscopy, telescopic meteors, and the collection of fire-
ball reports from untrained observers. I would like to stress that these bulletins
will attempt to transmit advice fran one amateur to another, and will not be formu-
lating hard and fast rules. If you have ideas of your own, go ahead and try them
art and please let me know the results. Your comments on these bulletins will be
welcomed along with news of the activities of your group in the meteor observing
field, but NOT the data you have collected. Please mail this to: Meteor Centre,
National Research Council, Ottawa 2, Ontario, where Dr. Peter M. Millman will feed
it to his hungry computers.

A number of brilliant fireballs have been observed recently; it is important to
remember that most of the people from whom fireball observations can be collected do
not know what they have seen. Reports of flying saucers, or unconfirmed stories of
planes crashing in flames, unexplained noises from the sky and other peculiar
happenings should be investigated - otherwise the chance of a meteorite recovery may
be lost. Remember, reporters and others in the mass-communication field cannot be
expected to be familiar with meteoritic phenomena. It is instructive to read the
reports of the meteorite which fell in Barwell, England, last Christmas Eve (see SKY
AND TELESCOPE July 1966, p.7, and Journal of the British Astronomical Association
April 1966, p.192), art compare this with the published account of the Bruderheim
meteorite of March 4, 1960 and the Peace River meteorite of March 31, 1963 (see
JOURNAL of the R.A.S.C., October 1961, p.218 and June 1964, p.109, respectively).
The comparison reflects great credit on our meteorite recovery experts in Western
Canada and the final story of the fireball of September 17, 1966 should reflect
similar credit on us in Ontario!