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!

Yet another meteor storm approaching? Excitement has been building for a while about a possible Leonids meteor storm (see Update #93) - but there is a chance that another one will precede it: on the evening of October 8th! These meteors have been released by comet Giacobini-Zinner, and a few times the particles have caused outbursts with up to 30 000 meteors per hour (in 1933) and up to 6000 (in 1946). This year the geometrical conditions are not as good as they were then, but this meteor shower is even harder to predict than the Leonids: We could be lucky. Most years bring no Giacobinids at all. Comet Giacobini-Zinner rounds the Sun every 6.6 years, and an intense shower seems to occur only when Earth passes just inside the comet's orbit shortly after the comet itself has gone by this point. This year Earth gets there about two months ahead of the comet, as happened in 1926 when observers enjoyed an impressive display. So meteor watchers are on the lookout for a good show this year: If it happens, it will be between 17 and 21 UTC on October 8th. The best chance will probably come if you are in Europe or western Asia. Unlike most meteor showers, the Giacobinids are at their best in the evening rather than after midnight. This is good news, because the Moon will be just a few days past full, so the sky will be truly dark only in the early evening before moonrise. The number of meteors you can see will rise dramatically the darker your sky is (avoid light pollution as well!), because there are many more fainter ones. And between the Giacobinids and the Leonids, we just might catch a rare increase in the unusual Taurids, sparse debris from periodic Comet 2P/Encke. Astronomers have found that in certain years Earth passes through a relatively dense clump, resulting in a large number of bright Taurids almost every clear night for 10 to 14 days. We're due for such an encounter this year. So from about October 25th to November 10th, keep an eye out for bright, slow meteors. (Based in part on a Sky & Tel. Press Release)

S&T Press Release on all 3 showers A Giacobinids preview, also from S&T, more on the shower, and a more detailed Leonids preview (again from S&T). There are also new insights about the danger to satellites from meteor storms, as reported by Spacer.com and ABCNEWS.com. Other solar system stuff: Galileo has been visiting Europa again. Cassini's Venus flyby hasn't yielded much science-wise, as the ESA Solar System News #22 report (find more on ESA's interplanetary adventures here and about ESA's science activities in general here). The mysterious braking of Pioneer 10 and 11 (here are the original paper and a press release) could have been explained already - by RTG heat reflected off the spacecrafts' HGAs.

In a nutshell: NASA sticks to the launch schedule for the first two ISS elements, but the Service Module will be delayed to July, 1999, and the first crew won't come before January, 2000: a NASA Release (mirrored here). / The license for SeaLaunch has been renewed - after a fine of $10m was paid.

The small satellite STEX has been launched: preview, delay, success. / Maybe Iridium flares aren't that bad after all - get your predictions whereever you are. / Here is a series of articles on NASA's past & future. / And Americans are getting crazy about Glenn's 2nd mission on Oct. 29th.

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Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to dfischer@astro.uni-bonn.de!), Skyweek