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Alpha Capricornids - Alha Capricornidi
Alpha Capricornids - Alha Capricornidi meteor shower
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
This photo doesn't seem epic; in fact, it seems rather anonymous. Instead, it is an important document because it helped precisely define the Alpha Capricornids radiant.
The Alpha Capricornids are, in fact, a poor shower, represented by a few bright meteors at maximum. At the time of the photograph, in 1997, little or nothing was known, so much so that it was on a list of meteor showers of dubious existence.
Responding to the IMO's observing campaign, I photographed the region of the presumed radiant from Pollino on July 27th and was fortunate enough to capture a quasi-stationary meteor (meteors directed toward the observer and of an almost point-like appearance), which allowed us to establish, along with other similar photographs, the meteors' origin in the sky.
After data analysis, the Alpha Capricornid shower was officially recognized and considered active annually from July 3 to August 15, peaking around July 30, with a mean ZHR of 5 and an average velocity of 23 km/s.
Recent studies have shown that the shower originates from the periodic comet 169P/NEAT.
Reproduction of the original slide taken with a 3M-SC400 and a 37 mm wide-angle lens. During editing, the original color was restored using the commercial Luminar 4 AI software.
Alpha Capricornids - Alha Capricornidi
Alpha Capricornids - Alha Capricornidi meteor shower
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
This photo doesn't seem epic; in fact, it seems rather anonymous. Instead, it is an important document because it helped precisely define the Alpha Capricornids radiant.
The Alpha Capricornids are, in fact, a poor shower, represented by a few bright meteors at maximum. At the time of the photograph, in 1997, little or nothing was known, so much so that it was on a list of meteor showers of dubious existence.
Responding to the IMO's observing campaign, I photographed the region of the presumed radiant from Pollino on July 27th and was fortunate enough to capture a quasi-stationary meteor (meteors directed toward the observer and of an almost point-like appearance), which allowed us to establish, along with other similar photographs, the meteors' origin in the sky.
After data analysis, the Alpha Capricornid shower was officially recognized and considered active annually from July 3 to August 15, peaking around July 30, with a mean ZHR of 5 and an average velocity of 23 km/s.
Recent studies have shown that the shower originates from the periodic comet 169P/NEAT.
Reproduction of the original slide taken with a 3M-SC400 and a 37 mm wide-angle lens. During editing, the original color was restored using the commercial Luminar 4 AI software.