[meteorite-list] Meteor Shower Origin Traced To 1490 Event

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:19:54 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200801180119.RAA19103_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13152-meteors-mysterious-origin-traced-to-1490-event.html

Meteors' mysterious origin traced to 1490 event
Stephen Battersby
New Scientist
07 January 2008

Last week's Quadrantid meteor shower was probably debris from a
deep-space explosion that went off in the late 15th century, new
observations reveal.

The meteors, which return every January, were observed more closely than
ever before when a group of 14 astronomers tracked them for nine hours
on a flight from California, US, to the North Pole.

They found that the shower peaked at around 0200 GMT on Friday, matching
a prediction made by Peter Jenniskens of NASA.

He based his prediction on the theory that the shower originated in
1490, when observers in China, Japan and Korea saw a comet following a
path similar to that of the Quadrantids. Apparently a sudden event
caused the dormant comet to flare up - like Comet Holmes
in October 2007 - leaving behind a stream of debris.

Jenniskens calculated that such a young stream should be narrow, and
thus easily deflected by Jupiter's gravity. That would make it arrive a
few hours earlier than if it were an older, more diffuse stream.

Friday's observations confirm the story. A closer analysis of the new
data might also give astronomers some clues about what caused the outburst.

The 1490 event left behind at least one larger remnant, a near-Earth
asteroid called 2003 EH1.
Received on Thu 17 Jan 2008 08:19:54 PM PST