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Re: (meteorobs) An unknown meteor storm seen in Finland in the 1960's
In a message dated 12/10/2002 2:24:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, JBortle@aol.com writes:
It has been my personal experience in tracking down many other reported
historical events that after 30-40 years all the "facts" have become so
muddled in the minds of a layman witness that they are totally unreliable -
especially the time, date, and year of an event. I've talked with folks who
insisted they had viewed total solar eclipses in their youth while checking
indicated these were really minor lunar events instead; brilliant comets that
memory had transfered a decade or more further into the past , etc. Thus, I'd
have to say the witnessed display in question almost certainly refers to the
November 1966 Leonids.
John Bortle's comments on the supposed "unseen meteor storm" of the 1960s are most welcome. Esko Lyytinen's description indicates that the observation was made in the evening . . . not the early morning (thereby eliminating the '66 Leonids). It couldn't have the Leonids anyway, since the 1966 storm occurred during the midday hours in Finland.
Only thing that I could think of that "might" validate the observation is the fact that the Giacobinids are a display best seen during the early evening. Perhaps a widespread cloud cover was over much of Europe on the evening in question . . . but parts of Finland were fortuitously clear. Also, if the outburst was very brief (say only 10 or 20 minutes), this might also have limited the number of people who might have seen this display.
-- joe rao