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Determining the Radiant of a Meteor Shower


Grade: 6

Curriculum Outcome: 302-13 Students should be able to identify constellations in the night’s sky.

INDEX:
STUDENT WORKSHEETS

Problem #1 ...………………………………………………………………………………………… Page 2

Problem #2 ...………………………………………………………………………………………… Page 4

August Star Map …...………………………………………………………………………………... Page 6

December Star Map ...……………………………………………………………………………….. Page 7

Meteor Shower Calendar ...………………………………………………………………………….. Page 8


TEACHER’S GUIDE ...……………………………………………………………………………... Page 9
Answer Key ………...……………………………………………………………………………….. Page 11

© 2007 Matthew Steeves and Tim Carson

May be reproduced for educational purposes

Determining the Radiant of a Meteor Shower
Name _____________________

Problem 1:


During the summer, there were a number of meteors observed passing through some identifiable constellations by some of your classmates. Plot these meteor paths on the August star map provided on page 6. Once all paths have been plotted, trace them back until they intersect. This point is called the radiant of this meteor shower. It’s the point from which the meteors appear to radiate.
Step 1: John saw a meteor starting at α CAS (star in the constellation Cassiopeia) and ending at Altair in the constellation Aquila (see below). Identify these locations on the August star map and plot the meteor sky track.

Step 2: Jane saw a meteor starting at Polaris (North Star) in Ursa Minor and ending at Alkaid in the constellation Ursa Major (see below). Identify these locations on the August star map and plot the meteor sky track.

Step 3: Jack saw a meteor starting at Sirrah in the constellation Pegasus and ending at γ PSC, the western most star circled in the constellation Pisces. Identify these on the August star map and plot the meteor sky track.


Once the radiant is found (the point from which the three meteors appear to radiate), find the constellation that is nearest the radiant. Knowing this constellation name, and the time of the year, try to define the name of the meteor shower on the Table on page 8, and the source of the meteor material. Once found, fill in the following 4 blanks.


Constellation nearest the radiant: ____________________
Shower Name: __________________________________
Activity Period: _________________________________
Parent Comet/Asteroid: ___________________________

Problem 2:


In December, some other classmates witnessed another meteor shower. Plot these meteor paths on the December Star map provided on page 7. Once all paths have been plotted, trace them backwards until they intersect at the radiant of this meteor shower.
Step 1: Jill saw a meteor starting at γ Cep (in the constellation Cepheus) and ending at γ Lyr in the constellation Lyra. These locations are shown below.


Step 2: Susan saw a meteor starting at β Aur (in the constellation Auriga) and ending at γ Per (in Perseus). These locations are shown below.




Step 3: Bob saw a meteor starting at θ Aur (in the constellation Auriga) and ending at γ Peg (in the constellation Pegasus). These locations are shown below.



Once the radiant is found, use the constellation that is nearest the radiant along with the month the meteor shower was seen and try to locate the name of the meteor showers from the meteor shower table provided. Once found, fill in the following 4 blanks.

Constellation nearest the radiant: ____________________
Shower Name: __________________________________
Activity Period: _________________________________
Parent Comet/Asteroid: ___________________________


= The observed trajectories of the meteors traced back to a common point (the shower radiant).

X = Observed starting and ending points of meteors.

Source: http://www.kidscosmos.org/kid-stuff/star-maps.html





Meteor Shower Calendar (2007)

Meteor Radiant Activity Maximum Zenith

Shower Name Location Period Date Hourly Rate Source of meteor material Location


Antihelion Source various Jan 01-Dec 31 n/a 3

Quadrantids Bootes Jan 01-Jan 05 Jan 04 120 2003 EH1 (asteroid)

alpha-Centaurids Centaurus Jan 28-Feb 21 Feb 08 5

delta-Leonids Leo Feb 15-Mar 10 Feb 25 2

gamma-Normids Scorpius Feb 25-Mar 22 Mar 14 4

Lyrids Lyra Apr 16-Apr 25 Apr 22 18 Thatcher (comet)

pi-Puppids Puppis Apr 15-Apr 28 Apr 24 var.

eta-Aquarids Aquarius Apr 19-May 28 May 06 60 Halley’s Comet

eta-Lyrids Lyra May 03-May 12 May 09 3 C\1861 G1 (comet)

June Bootids Near Bootes Jun 26-Jul 02 Jun 27 var. 7P/Pons-Winnecke (comet)

Pisces Austrinids Piscis Austrinus Jul 15-Aug 10 Jul 28 5

Southern delta-Aquarids Aquarius Jul 12-Aug 19 Jul 28 20

alpha-Capricornids Capricornus Jul 03-Aug 15 Jul 30 4

Perseids Near Perseus Jul 17-Aug 24 Aug 13 100 Swift-Tuttle (comet)

kappa-Cygnids Cygnus Aug 03-Aug 25 Aug 18 3

alpha-Aurigids Auriga Aug 25-Sep 08 Sep 01 7

September Perseids Perseus Sep 05-Sep 17 Sep 09 5

Draconids Near Hercules Oct 06-Oct 10 Oct 09 var. Giacobini-Zinner (comet)

epsilon-Geminids Gemini Oct 14-Oct 27 Oct 18 2

Orionids Orion Oct 02-Nov 07 Oct 21 23 Halley’s Comet

Leo Minorids Leo Minor Oct 19-Oct 27 Oct 24 2

Southern Taurids Taurus Oct 01-Nov 25 Nov 05 5 Encke (comet)

Northern Taurids Taurus Oct 01-Nov 25 Nov 12 5

Leonids Leo Nov 10-Nov 23 Nov 18 15+ Tempel-Tuttle (comet)

alpha-Monocerotids Canis Minor Nov 15-Nov 25 Nov 22 var.

Dec. Phoenicids Phoenix Nov 28-Dec 09 Dec 06 var.

Puppid-Velids Between Puppis and Vela Dec 01-Dec 15 Dec 07 10

Monocerotids Near Gemini Nov 27-Dec 17 Dec 09 2

sigma-Hydrids Near Head Dec 03-Dec 15 Dec 12 3

Geminids Gemini Dec 07-Dec 17 Dec 14 120 3200 Phaethon (asteroid)

Coma Berenicids Near Coma Berenices Dec 12-Jan 23 Dec 20 5



Ursids Ursa Minor Dec 17-Dec 26 Dec 23 10 8P/Tuttle (comet)



Shower Name: named for the constellation or closest star within a constellation where the radiant is located at maximum activity.

Radiant Location: The constellation nearest the radiant.

Activity Period: the dates when the Zenith Hourly Rates are equal to or greater than one per hour.

Maximum Date: the date on which the maximum meteor activity is expected to occur.

Zenith Hourly Rate: the average maximum number of shower meteors visible per hour if the radiant is located exactly overhead.

Source: The source of the meteor shower. This is usually debris from the tail of a comet or, more rarely, an asteroid.


Determining the Radiant of a Meteor Shower

(Teacher’s Guide)

Grade: 6
Curriculum Outcome: 302-13 Students should be able to identify constellations in the night’s sky.
Definitions:
Meteoroid: Dust and debris left behind from a comet or asteroid, floating in space (before it enters the atmosphere). These are small particles (no bigger than a boulder) anything bigger is called an asteroid.
Meteors: Pieces of this dust or debris that enter the atmosphere and burns up. These are also known as ‘shooting stars’ or ‘falling stars’. Most burn up and never land at the surface.
Fireball: Is simply a very bright meteor, generated by a larger chunk or rock. Fireballs can make it to the ground, where the rocks are called meteorites.
Meteorites: Pieces that do not burn up and have landed on Earth. Larger rocks can sometimes generate an impact crater, though most are too small to do so.
Radiant: The location in the sky from which a group of meteors appear to be originating. A meteor that is unable to be traced back to a radiant is called a Sporadic and is not part of a meteor shower. These occur most nights of the year.
Comet: A comet is a body that orbits around the sun. The nucleus of the comet is composed of rock, dust and ice. The tail of the comet is caused by solar radiation vapourising the nucleus as it comes into the inner parts of the solar system. As the comet travels around the sun, particles break away, leaving a trail of debris. Most of the meteor showers occur when the Earth intersects one of these trails of debris. The meteors appear to radiate outwards from the centre of this trail as the earth passes through it on its orbit around the sun – this point is called the radiant.

Materials:
Worksheet Star Maps

List of Meteor Showers for 2007 (page 8)

Ruler and pencil

Description:

For each question, students will plot the trajectories of three different meteors. They should be able to determine the path of the meteor based on the constellations in which it was first and last seen. They will then trace these paths back to a common area and determine that this is the radiant of the meteor shower. Once they have determined the radiant, the students need to determine the name of the constellation nearest this point. Using the constellation name and the month that the meteor shower was observed, they should be able to use the table of meteor shower information to determine the shower name and the source of the debris responsible for the meteor shower.





Answer Key


= The observed trajectories of the meteors traced back to a common point (the shower radiant).

X = Observed starting and ending points of meteors.

Source: http://www.kidscosmos.org/kid-stuff/star-maps.html

Constellation nearest the radiant: Perseus
Shower Name: Perseids
Activity Period: Jul 17-Aug 24
Parent Comet/Asteroid: Swift-Tuttle (comet)

Constellation nearest the radiant: Gemini


Shower Name: Geminids
Activity Period: Dec 07-Dec 17
Parent Comet/Asteroid: 3200 Phaethon (asteroid)




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