Meteors
and Meteorites
Welcome to another Blacklegend cache hide... This is my
third astronomy mystery cache, and another one that doesn't require
any the solving of any complicated puzzles, encryption, etc, etc.
In fact, all the information you need is right on the cache page,
no tricks, you just have to read it and take of a few facts and
figures.
So, in saying that, i will give a little introduction into Meteor
Observing.
Meteor observing is probably my biggest involvement in
Amateur Astronomy. It involves the simple process of grabbing a
deck chair, or other comfortable chair, and recording the meteors
you see in the night sky over a period of time. Recording is
usually done in one hour blocks and specific details like the
brightness, colour and if the meteor belongs to a meteor stream or
not. Recording is done on a dictaphone and transferred later to
paper or computer.
The valuable information that the meteor observer gathers is then
submitted to the IMO (International
Meteor Organisation) where it is correlated and used by
professional astronomers worldwide. The study and observation of
meteors is particularly useful in cometary research.
That's about as easy as it is. However, a few of the terms above
might a bit foreign to you. So I have provided a short
glossary.
Meteor: A particle which passes through the atmosphere and
which, because of friction, burns up and produces a bright path
across the sky. Also commonly known as a "shooting star".
Meteor Shower: A number of meteors with approximately
parallel trajectories. The meteors belonging to one shower appear
to emenate from their radiant.
Meteorite: A meteor which survives passage through the
atmosphere to reach the Earth's surface. Successor to a
meteor.
Meteoroid: A small solid particle in space. Precursor to a
meteor.
Micrometeorite: A small particle which remains unaffected by
passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
Radiant: A direction in the sky from which, by perspective,
meteors appear to come if they share a common orbit.
Shower: Meteors active over a defined period of time and
belonging to the same radiant are defined as shower meteors. Shower
meteors enhance the meteor activity over and above that of the
normal sporadic meteors.
Sporadic: A meteor not belonging to a defined stream.
Stream: A group of meteors having similar orbits.
Comets, Meteors and Left
Overs...
Ok, so where do all these meteors we see in the night sky come
from...? Basically, there are two types. Sporadic Meteors which are
random meteors and produced by dust rocks left over from the
formation of the solar system, and Stream Meteors which are
produced when the Earth during its orbit around the sun, passes
through the orbits of comets.
Stream Meteors appear to eminate from the one are of the sky (see
pic below).
They appear to do this for the same reason that a road converges to
a point in the distance in front of you, because the particles are
all traveling around the sun in parallel orbits.
Observing stream meteors, gives us information about comets orbits
and the comets that produce the meteor stream themselves. The most
famous of all comets, Halley's Comet, produces two meteor streams
at different times of the year. This is because the orbit of the
Earth crosses the orbit of Halley's Comet in two different places
(see pic below).
Time to solve the
mystery....
Ok, it's gonna be pretty simple... True and false answers, 6 of
them to be precice.
A. Comet Halley produces the Eta Aquarid and Orionid Meteor
Showers? True = 1 False = 2
B. A meteorite is produced when a meteoroid survives the passage
through the Earth's atmosphere? True = 8 False = 5
C. Meteors from a meteor stream or meteor shower appear to travel
towards one point in the sky? True = 7 False = 5
D. Friction with the Earth's Atmosphere causes particles called
"Meteoroids" to burn up causing a bright glow in the sky? True = 5
False = 9
E. Comet Swift-Tuttle does not produce the Perseids Meteor Shower?
True = 6 False = 7
F. The observation of meteors and recording of data is particularly
useful in the study of comets? True = 0 False = 5
And the coordinates are S 35° 54.ABC E 145° 40.DEF
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.
The cache is a regular plastic airtight Decor container.
They are a new one that i am trying out so some feedback on them
would be great. The hide is a traditional bush caching type of
hide...
As always with caches near water,
be careful. Keep an eye on the kiddies if you take them as the
cache location is very near to water. Also, in the warmer months,
keep a look out for snakes. Have Fun.