The next MEPCO is coming ... to Bulgaria, in early August, 1999!
For details on this astronomical conference just before the total solar eclipse click here!

Giacobinid meteors came early, up to 700 per hour Once more a meteor stream has surprised astronomers: The moderately hyped Giacobinids or Draconids (see previous update) were strong but missed a storm level last night - and the maximum of activity, with up to 700 meteors per hour in dark skies, came several hours early. Observers in Asia were thus favored, while Europeans missed the fun: According to both visual counts from Japan and radar observations from Europe, the shower reached its maximum around 13:30 UTC on Oct. 8th, 4 hours earlier than even the 'earliest' predictions. An early analysis received minutes ago from Japan - that divided time into 10 minute intervals - has the Zenithal Hourly Rate peaking at 760 between 13:10 and 13:20 UTC, tapering off towards 200 only one hour later. Averaging by the hour, we have ZHRs of 147 between 12:00 and 13:00, 371 between 13:00 and 14:00, and 174 between 14:00 and 15;00 UTC. All this is nice, beating the 1993 Perseids by some 40% in maximum strength. But to qualify as a storm, the ZHR should have exceeded 1000, if not 3000 by other definitions, for intervals of several minutes. The visual observations from Japan are corroborated by radio echo and radar observations from Europe, that can be performed regardless of daylight and adverse weather (see the nice diagram linked to on the right). The conversion of radar data to visual counts is tricky, but the time development matches the Japanese data. When darkness had finally fallen in Europe around 18:00 UTC, only 10 Giacobinids were seen per hour, and at 19:00 UTC all activity had ceased. (Vereinigung der Sternfreunde Press Release #5 of Oct. 9, 1998 + a message from Koseki Masahiro)

Radar data from Ondrejov observatory, demonstrating that there was a moderately sharp peak (FWHM = 3 hours) of activity. Radar meteor observations are one of many activities of the institute. BBC story focusing more on the British weather than astronomy. NASA info (before it happened)

NICMOS views the Hubble Deep Field The first high-resolution near-infrared view of the famous Hubble Deep Field, that the WFPC2 camera had stared at for 10 consecutive days in 1995, is now public: Hubbles NICMOS camera, installed in 1997, has had a deep view at that 'blank' area in the sky, too, and has - in NASA's incomparable words - "peered into a previously unseen realm of the universe." The NICMOS images unveil "the faintest galaxies ever seen", some of which could also have the largest redshifts ever observed - but unfortunately present technology doesn't allow us to measure the redshifts and thus distances directly (leading to yet another call for the Next Generation Space Telescope). The 6.68 found in HST STIS data from another part of the sky (see Update #104) thus remains the largest redshift measured directly. NICMOS' look at the HDF "is just our first tentative glimpse into the very remote universe," says Alan Dressler of the Carnegie Observatories: "What we see may be the first stages of galaxy formation. But the objects are so faint that their true nature can only be explored with the advanced telescopes of the future." "This observation is a major step toward fulfilling one of Hubble's key objectives: to search for the faintest and farthest objects in the universe," adds a NASA manager.

STScI News Release and images Coverage by CNN, BBC and ABC. The HDF in visible light Currently "in production": another Hubble Deep Field, this time in the Southern skies. NGST Web site

In a nutshell: Now there are also spectra from the FORS instrument at the VLT UT1: ESO Press Release. / NASA is defending the plan to help Russia stay part of the ISS venture. / John Glenn is complaining about the media coverage of his mission - how would he like this item from Suck? :-) / And there is a wonderful report on how life is for the Mauna Kea astronomers in Outside magazine!

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Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to [email protected]!), Skyweek