41. On the width of the Geminid shower at faint radio magnitude

Abstract

A search for major streams has been performed among the orbits of meteors observed with the six station meteor radar of the Harvard-Smithsonian Radio Meteor Project at a limiting radio magnitude of about + 10 on the visual scale.The analysis of the Geminid shower from observations made in December 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964, shows some evidence that meteors belonging to this stream are detected at an earlier date than the bright photographic meteors. From observations made on December 28–31 of the same years during the hours in which the Geminid radiant is within the collecting area of the six station system, 15 orbits were identified as possible members of the shower.It is suggested that the stream might be active for a period longer than the previous observations indicated.