PLEASE NOTE:


*
Date sent:        Fri, 29 Aug 1997 11:46:06 -0400 (EDT)
From:             Benny J Peiser <B.J.PEISER@livjm.ac.uk
Subject:          UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL NEO CONFERENCE
To:               cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Priority:         NORMAL

NEW BOOK RELEASE:

ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Volume 822 (1997)

NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS: THE UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Editor: John L. Remo
550 pp.
ISBN 1-57331-041-7
$140.00

To order: fax   212 888 2894
          e-mail publications@nyas.org
 

This book puts into perspective recent discoveries in the natural
sciences that describe the part played by Earth-crossing asteroids
and comets in the extinction of a large range of species. These
perspectives include the effects of past terrestrial impacts
contained within the fossil record, current astronomical
observations of near-Earth objects (NEOs), and future observations
and exploration missions to understand the properties of NEOs and
assess the hazards they may pose to planet Earth.

CONTENTS

Preface. By John L. Remo

Development NEO Research: a Chronological Outline. By John L. Remo

Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) Program. By Eleanor F. Helin,
Steven H. Pravdo, David L. Rabinowitz, and Kenneth J. Lawrence

The Uncertain Nature of Cometary Motions. By Donald K. Yeomans

The EUNEASO Project: A European NEO Search, Follow-up, and Physical
Observation Programme. By G. Hahn, S. Mottola, A. Erikson, A.W. Harris, G.
Neukum, A. Maury, R. Savalle, H. Scholl, A. Bijaoui, M. Dimartino, C.
Barbieri,m. Lazzarin, F. Migliorini, P. Pravec, M. Wolf, L. Sarounova, F.P.
Velichko, Yu.N. Krugly, I.n. Belskaya, and V.G. Shevchenko

The European NEO Search Project Within EUNEASO. By Alain Maury, Renaud
Savalle, Gerhard Hahn, Stefano Mottola, and Gerhard Neukum

Meteoroid Orbits: Implications for Near-Earth Object Search Programs. By
Duncan Steel

Overview of Orbits. By Brian G. Marsden

Long-period Comets and the Oort Cloud. By Paul R. Weissman

Comets as Porous Aggregates of Interstellar Dust. By J. Mayo Greenberg and
John L. Remo

Radar Reconnaissance of Near-Earth Objects at the Dawn of the Next
Millennium. By Steven J. Ostro

Colliding Asteroids from Blind Directions. By Syuzo Isobe and Makoto
Yoshikawa Correlation of Ground- and Space-based Bolides. By Z. Ceplecha, C.
Jacobs, and C. Zaffery

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragment Size Estimates: How Big Was the Parent
Body? By David A. Crawford

Observations and Studies of NEOs and the SL-9 Impact at the Purple Mountain
Observatory. By Heqi Zhang, Jiaxiang Zhang, Sichao Wang, Qi Wang, and
Jiexing Yang

NEO Orbits and Nonlinear Dynamics: A Brief Overview and Interpretations. By
John L. Remo

Fast Resonance Shifting as a Mechanism of Dynamic Instability Illustrated by
Comets and CHE Trajectories. By Edward Belbruno
 

                      II. Earth and Planetary Sciences

Gaspra and Ida: Implications of Spacecraft Reconnaissance for NEO Issues. By
Clark R. Chapman

Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Plume-forming Collisions on Earth. By Mark B.E.
Boslough and David A. Crawford

Atmospheric Screening of Comet and Asteroid Impacts. By H.J. Melosh

Historical Detection of Atmospheric Impacts by Large Bolides Using
Acoustic-Gravity Waves. By Douglas O. Revelle

Analysis of Satellite Observations of Large Meteoroid Impacts. By I.V.
Nemtchinov, C. Jacobs, and E. Tagliaferri

Impact Record in the Solar System. By Gerhard Neukum

Target Earth: Evidence for Large-Scale Impact Events. By Richard A.F.
Grieve

The Cretaceous-Tertiary Impact Crater and the Cosmic Projectile That
Produced It. By Virgil L. Sharpton and Luis E. Marín

Tsunami Produced by the Impacts of Small Asteroids. By Jack G. Hills and
Charles L. Mader

On Kill Curves and Sampling Protocols: Studying the Relationships Between
Impact and Extinction. By Peter D. Ward

Cretaceous Habitats Before the End: the Record from 75,000,000 Year-Old
Rocks in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. By Donald L. Wolberg

Paleobiological Implications of Mass Extinctions. By David Jablonski

Asteroid Impacts and Mass Extinctions — No Cause for Concern. By Gerta
Keller

Environmental Perturbations Caused by the Impacts of Asteroids and Comets.
By Owen B. Toon, Kevin Zahnle, David Morrison, Richard P. Turco, and Curt
Covey

A Unified Theory of Impact Crises and Mass Extinctions: Quantitative Tests.
By Michael R. Rampino, Bruce M. Haggerty, and Thomas C. Pagano
 

                             III. Astronautics

NEO Mission Dynamics and Advanced Space Propulsion. By P.M. Sforza and J.L.
Remo

High Performance Ultra-Light Nuclear Rockets for Near-Earth Objects
Interaction Missions. By James Powell, George Maise, Hans Ludewig, and
Michael Todosow

Near-Earth Resources. By Richard Gertsch, John L. Remo, and Leslie Sour
Gertsch

Mining Near-Earth Resources. By Richard Gertsch, Leslie Sour Gertsch, and
John L. Remo
 

                        IV. Detection and Mitigation

Several Aspects of Space Protection of the Earth: Conceptual Development. By
VA. Simonenko

Optimal Detection of Near-Earth Object Threats. By Gregory H. Canavan

Technology for the Detection of Near-Earth Objects. By G.H. Stokes and D.F.
Kostishack

A Near-Earth Object Hazard Index. By Richard P. Binzel

Momentum Coupling to NEOs. By B.P. Shafer, M.D. Garcia, R.A. Managan, J.L.
Remo, C.E. Rosenkilde, R.J. Scammon, C.M. Snell, and R.F. Stellingwerf

Ice Issues, Porosity, and Snow Experiments for Dynamic NEO and Comet
Modeling. By M.D. Furnish and J.L. Remo

Magnetospheric Effects as a New Aspect of the Asteroid Impact Problem:
Necessity and Possibilities of Laboratory Simulation Experiments. By Yuri P.
Zakharov, Sergei A. Nikitin, Arnold G. Ponomarenko, and Shigeyuki Minami

Laboratory Planetary Physics. By P. Hammerling and J.L. Remo
 

                      V. United Nations Related Issues

A Proposal to the United Nations Regarding the International Discovery
Programs of Near-Earth Asteroids. By Tom Gehrels

International Efforts Toward the Spaceguard System. By A. Carusi

Space Debris Issue at the United Nations. By Petr Lála

United Nations Contributions to the Worldwide Development of Astronomy. By
Hans J. Haubold

Index of Contributors



*
Date sent:        Fri, 29 Aug 1997 10:30:13 -0400 (EDT)
From:             Benny J Peiser <B.J.PEISER@livjm.ac.uk
Subject:          A SECOND 'TUNGUSKA' EVENT?
To:               cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Priority:         NORMAL

A CALL FOR HELP:

WAS THERE ANOTHER TUNGUSKA-LIKE EVENT ON JULY 12, 1908?

from: Joel Schiff <j,schiff@math.auckland.ac.nz

Benny,

Below is something sent to me regarding events just prior to
Tunguska. Do you have a student who could possibly check on the
dates mentioned below, since I cannot believe that there was a 2nd
Tunguska, two weeks prior to the real thing. The volumes mentioned
might be accessible from your end. If the dates are genuine, then
this becomes most interesting!

Regards,

Joel

-------------------------------------------------------------------
from: Andrei Yu. Olkhovatov <andrei@olkhov.msk.ru
 

               AN UNKNOWN TUNGUSKA OF JULY 12, 1908?

                        Andrei Olkhovatov
    Russia, 123448, Moscow, prospekt marshala Zhukova 46, apt.35
                 e-mail: <andrei@olkhov.msk.ru
 

Recently, searching for the 1908 Tunguska-related events, I
discovered an interesting note, reproduced below:

      July 17, 1908. ENGLISH MECHANIC AND WORLD OF SCIENCE: vol. 87,
      No. 2260, p. 551

      SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

"The abnormal barometrical changes last Sunday have attracted the
notice of many meteorologists. During the forenoon and first part of
the afternoon there was a very slight decrease of pressure connected
with the shallow cyclonic depression lying over the country. At three
o'clock there was a sudden, though slight, dip, amounting to 0.01 in.
(the one-hundredth part of an inch of mercury), then a rise of 0.02
in. by half-past three. In the next half-hour there was a very rapid
fall of 0.05 in., followed immediately by a bound up to 0.04 in. in a
quarter of an hour, and a slower rise of 0.02 in. in three quarters of
an hour, up to five o'clock. Then came the most remarkable change of
the day, a drop of 0.1 in. (one tenth of an inch) in half an hour, and
this was succeeded by a brisk ascent of 0.04 in. in the next
half-hour, up to six o'clock, when on the stroke of the hour the
curious movement suddenly ceased, and the barometer became stationary.
A correspondent of the "Morning Post" remarks that the only
explanation of this rare fall of the barometer of one-tenth of an inch
within the hour, with no thunderstorm in London, is the occurrence of
some terrible disaster in a distant part of the globe, far away from
telegraphic communication. Nearly twenty-five years ago, towards the
close of August, 1883, the Javan island of Krakatoa was rent asunder
by a terrific explosion, and one-half of the island disappeared in the
sea. Such was the violence of the outburst that both the air and the
sea all round the earth were affected. The aerial waves set up swept
across the continents, and were recorded by the self-registering
barometers, so that the late Sir Richard Strachey was able to trace
the whole wave-movement round and round the globe. The amplitudes of
Sunday's oscillations were greater than those of a quarter of a
century ago, and it will be interesting (remarks the "Morning Post")
to note whether other, but less marked, oscillations will occur in
the next few days, because, if the originating cause of the movement
has been something of the Krakatoa character, the aerial wave set up
would go round more than once. It cannot, of course, be stated
definitely that a great calamity has occurred; but the very unusual
atmospheric tidal wave that rolled so silently over the Metropolis
on Sunday afternoon was too great to have had a local origin, and it
may be some days before it can be determined whether there has been
anything resembling the Krakatoa disaster."
 

At first, when I quickly looked through the note, I had a thought
that it is a description of barographic disturbances caused by the
Tunguska event, but when I read again, I understood that it was not
the Tunguska. At first, the June 30, 1908 was Tuesday, not Sunday.
The second, the June 30 barographic disturbances in England occurred
at 5.06 - 5.23 a.m. and lasted for half an hour, while
above-mentioned took place from 3 to 6 p.m.. The amplitude of the
disturbances is by an order of magnitude greater than the Tunguska
one. The 'last Sunday' from July 17 is July 12, so it is a probable
date of the event. I would like to appeal to readers to take part in
the investigation. At first, the date July 12 must be check (the
"Morning Post" article could be useful). Then the original
barographic recordings should be searched all over the world. If
these disturbances also present on them, i.e. they are, indeed, of
global character, rough estimation of their source location
could be done.



CCCMENU CCC for 1997