[meteorite-list] Meteor showers and meteorite falls

[MexicoDoug]

Doctor Death wrote:

"Somewhere I recall that the best time to watch meteors is around 4:00 am 
where the Earth is facing foward in orbit."

"And the most likely time for a  retrivable fall is 4:00 pm when a meteorite 
is approaching earth is catching up to it in orbit.  Kind of like retriving 
bugs off the front and  back windshields. Anybody care to back me up on 
this?"

Statistically I'm sure you're right, so I'll back you up.  If you run into a 
uniform wind in your face when it is raining you get wetter and pelted 
harder than if you run away...

If we say everything solar is traveling around with similar orders of 
velocity as earth in its orbit (66,000 miles per hour - over 100,000 
km/hour) this is true.  Of course if Earth's velocity were negligable it 
wouldn't matter.  That's the difference with bugs which can't catch up to me 
and still have enough flight enery to squash themselves on my rear 
windshield when I drive , but meteoroids do catch up to the earth with 
probability of some trigonometric function, calculated with relative speeds 
and radiants...depending on the time of day.  I have consistently whipped 
meteoroids and they are too afraid to respond to my dares, as well as bugs, 
catching up, driving during the day - but it remains to be seen if 
meteoroids can catch up.  Maybe I'll give them a handicap, drive east at 
about 10PM at low latitude, and then check my radiator grill for chondrules 
and inclusions...

Which brings up the other factor when observing meteors and which also comes 
into play for bolide production and meteorites.  At the Vernal Equinox (the 
first day of Spring), an observer north of the tropics see the least because 
the "windshield" tilt adds to the angle, but on the first day of Autumn 
(Autumnal Equinox) in the north, (s)he see the most meteors because the 
"windshield"is tilted the least as we plow through our orbit.  A true, 
efficient meteor hunter could always get a front seat if needed.  This 
happens because earth is tilted.  So if you want to increase odds, consider 
the benefits and drawbacks to work around Sept. 22, after midnight:-)

Actually the windshield of our great blue spaceship is the atmosphere, and 
the the interstate highway out here follows a feeder ring outside of 
downtown business end of the Solar System where people would be fried to a 
crisp.  The route the spaceship follows could be called "Apex route" since 
it follows the apex vector - the point connecting the center of the Earth 
with the most forward point in the orbit which changes every instant during 
rotation and revolution!

Best wishes, Doug
(hope I got this straight, and of course the non-random amount of meteoroid 
seasonal congestion in earth's annual orbit will also have effect on rates)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "doctor death" <neocondeatheaters at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 2:22 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteor showers and meteorite falls


> Meteorite showers from Comet trails might be CM2  or CI1 types if this
> happens. Not big rocky ones like observed bolides. Perhaps more dust in 
> the
> raingutters. Somewhere I recall that the best time to watch meteors is
> around 4:00 am where the Earth is facing foward in orbit. And the most
> likely time for a  retrivable fall is 4:00 pm when a meteorite is
> approaching earth is catching up to it in orbit.  Kind of like retriving
> bugs off the front and  back windshields. Anybody care to back me up on
> this?
>
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