Re: Cosmic Challenge

[Tom Deering <tdeering@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I'm sure you have all heard about this year's (Nov. 16-17) Leonid meteor
>shower possibly being a really big show (where have I heard that?) with
>up to 50,000 meteors per hour being visible under optimum conditions
>between midnight and dawn. Now, the $64,000 dollar question (I'm dating
>myself here), how much of a stereo base would it take to get separation
>between the meteors at, say, 25 to 50 miles distance and the stars at,
>well, infinity. Maybe Joel and I could coordinate some time exposures
>for a little hyper.

Using a spreadsheet I call "MAOFD for Dummies", I made these assumptions:

Near Point: 25 miles (1584000 inches)
Far Point: 1.5 * 10^196 miles (WAG)
Focal Length: 80mm
OFD: 2.7mm

That gives me a camera separation of 52,800 inches, or 8/10ths of a mile.
That assumes my far distance WAG is anywhere near accurate.

Will you use a slide bar, or twin cameras?  :^)

I certainly may have made an error.  Maybe there's someone else on the list
who is more familar with the Bercovitz forumula?  :^)