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meteor showers

Guflstream V missions
2008 Quadrantid MAC
2007 Ursid MAC
2007 Aurigid MAC

Leonid MAC
1998 Leonid MAC
1999 Leonid MAC
2000 Leonid MAC
2001 Leonid MAC
2002 Leonid MAC

re-entries

Hyperseed MAC
2004 Genesis MAC
2006 Stardust MAC

SOFIA

Education Public Outreach
2004 SURF workshop

publications

Books, reports, and journal special issues

SOFIA S.U.R.F.:
book

2002 Leonid MAC:
book
book

2001 Leonid MAC:
book
book

1999 Leonid MAC:
book

1998 Leonid MAC:
book

Mission statement

Create research opportunities in airborne astronomy, especially for the study of natural and artificial meteors and meteor showers. Involve the public in our missions of exploration.

Science themes: How do comets and their meteor showers originate and evolve? What role did meteoric matter play in the prebiotic evolution of life? What comets can threaten life on Earth?

[click on patch to go to mission website]


Gulfstream V meteor shower missions


mission patch

Legacy image

2008

Study of the annual Quadrantid shower to determine the influence of Jupiter on the shower and whether the shower can have been created in 1490 AD.
group photo

2007

An otherwise minor shower was expected to become strong with the imminent return of comet 8P/Tuttle.



mission patch ursid
Bright Ursid Meteor Dec 22, 2007
mission patch

Legacy image

Legacy image

2007

An outburst of Aurigid meteors dating from 4 A.D.. A brief but spectacular outburst of meteors was observed from two parallel flying Gulfstream V aircraft en route from Utah to California.
Aurigid group Night of the mission


SOFIA Upper Deck Research Facility


SURF group

2004

Workshop to discuss a future research facility on the upper deck of the SOFIA Infrared Airborne Observatory.
logo S.U.R.F. SOFIA S.U.R.F. logo


Hyperseed MAC


mission patch Stardust

2006

The fiery return of the Stardust Sample Return Capsule was observed from the Nevada/Utah border from NASA's DC-8 Airborne Laboratory. Observers recorded a spectacular video of the entry, as well as signatures of the shock emissions, hot surface, white paint, and the ablating heat shield material.
Stardust SRC entry Fiery reentry of the Stardust sample return capsule

Legacy video by partipant Dr. Mike Taylor of Utah State University.

mission patch Genesis

2004

During this final mission of the USAF FISTA aircraft, observers recorded how hot the Genesis Sample Return Capsule got before it crashed on the Utah salt flats due to a failed parachute opening.
2002 group Back at Offutt AFB

Legacy image


Leonid MAC

The Leonid MAC logo: a silhouetted human reaches beyond the limits of our knowledge, grasping toward the tail of a comet. The orange stripe represents an upper region of the atmosphere where meteors vaporize and leave atomic debris behind that is responsible for the faint orange glow of Earth's natural airglow layer.


mission patch 2002 Leonid MAC

2002

The final meteor storms in this Leonid storm season double peaked over Europe and Northern America. Both storms were observed as planned during a flight from Torrejon, Spain, to Omaha, Nebraska. Aurora created a scenic background for a blizzard of tiny meteors.
2002 group Back at Offutt AFB

2001

The most beautiful of all meteor storms in the Leonid storm season double-peaked over Northern America and the western Pacific. The 2001 Leonid MAC covered the first peak in a mission over the continental USA from Alabama to California.
mission patch 2001 Leonid MAC group photo

Proud at dawn!

mission patch 2000 Leonid MAC

2000

No Leonid MAC mission because of relatively low meteor shower rates. Airborne effort limited to small Cessna aircraft used to escape bad Florida weather and moon light. Ground-based observers encounter the 1932 and 1866 dust trail on November 16/17 and 17/18.
Picture from 2000 Cessna deployment

Onboard the Cessna aircraft.

1999

The 1999 Leonid MAC mission patch features the flags of participating nations, both nations from which participants originate as nations that are visited on our route. The patch illustrates the multi-national and multi-instrument nature of the campaign, symoblizing the global impact of meteoroids on satellite safety and the global implications of our search for the origins of life.
mission patch 1999 Leonid MACImage from 1999 campaign

Meteor flux counter wearing video headset display.

mission patch 1998 Leonid MAC

1998

November 1998: the first airborne mission in this campaign executed over Okinawa, Japan. This was NASA's first Astrobiology mission. The mission featured the NSF/NCAR "Electra", with a 2-beam iron lidar of the University of Illinois, and the USAF/452nd FTS "FISTA".
picture from 1998 campaign

At work during1998 mission.

SETI Institute logo

Host: The SETI Institute
Curator: Peter Jenniskens
Responsible NASA Official: Dave E. Jordan

Last update: January 19, 2008