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Re: The Taurids - Encke's Comet and Tunguska


GeoZay@aol.com schrieb:

> Every year around this time, folks all over the world find
> themselves in a frenzy over Taurid fireballs.

A few years ago Neil Bone, Director of the BAA Meteor Section, published a
paper in which he concluded that Taurid fireballs did not exist. That is
quite surprising as fireball reports date back to the 11th Century, many
have been observed by some very experienced observers, and there are several
photographs and video clips! The shower is also part of the "Taurid Complex"
which includes a whole range of objects from minute particles up to comets
Encke and Rudnicki, and asteroids Oljato and Hephaistos. For Bone to be
right some mechanism would have had to selectively remove all the debris
that causes fireballs. In fact, the reverse is true: smaller objects
disappear first due to the Poynting -Roberston Effect. So how did he come to
this Earth shattering conclusion?

I had a look at the data and it seemed fairly obvious to me. His results
were based on a handful of poor quality observations. Furthermore, several
observers appeared to be assigning sporadics to the shower, so the shower
was not as active as it had previously been. In all probability, the shower
went through a quite period and hence the number of fireballs declined in
line with reduced activity.

It is a pity the paper was not objectively reviewed before it were to press.

Phil Bagnall
www.ticetboo.demon.co.uk



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