Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
5-1-2025
Disciplines
Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics
Advisor
Jim Crumley
Abstract
Meteor shower origin points, or radiants, are a widely studied topic in astrophysics as they give a lot of context to the meteor shower itself as well as provide a way study broader space. Specifically, when it comes to annual showers, these radiant points are compared with previous years to create a broader database about the shower and check accuracy of instruments. This project is ongoing with several places tracking these annual showers and comparing data to give a more detailed history of each shower. Here at CSBSJU, meteor showers were analyzed using an AllSky camera, and a few additional analysis software programs were used to create radiant graphs and compute radiant analysis information. The camera ran each night to track meteor activity. When a meteor is detected, it analyzed the video to provide information about location and brightness. Once this was uploaded to the camera’s website, the data was proofed and then processed through radiant calculation software to create a graph that showed the most likely origin location. These graphs were then compared to previous data to confirm general accuracy and improve historically collected data. Throughout this project, this method was used to look at multiply annual showers, including the Perseids and Leonids meteor shower. General accuracy of the camera and software programs was shown, apart from some faulty data analysis by the camera that was filtered out. Radiant graphs of these meteor showers were successfully created and compared to expected values. For example, the expected coordinate values for the Perseids shower were 48 degrees Right Ascension and 58 degrees declination compared to the calculated 61.78±4.31 degrees Right Ascension and 54.93±1.38 degrees Declination. This slight disagreement is attributed to a cluster of extraneous, non-shower meteors elsewhere in the graph. This work continues to further improve the mapping and knowledge of greater space as well as confirm the accuracy of the instruments used.
Recommended Citation
Springman, Elise, "Analyzing Meteor Shower Radiants" (2025). Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-). 294.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/ur_cscday/294
