(meteorobs) Interesting facts about meteor showers

[LarryFarma at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/1/04 7:37:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time, YoungBob2 at aol.com 
writes:

> << Meteoroids in a swarm,   when encountering the 
>   earth's gravity,    would not maintain their directions 
>   but would be deflected in differing directions by the earth's 
>   gravity,    with the result that the meteoroids would be 
>   coming from every which way,   and hence the meteor 
>   paths could not all be directed away from a central point.  >>
>  
>  Hi, Larry:
>  
>  Quite the contrary, I think.  The stream, which would tend to
>  be somewhat diffuse, would be pulled toward the Earth, thus
>  "tightening" it up!
>  
>  Clear skies,
>  Bob Young

Bob,

           For the directions of the meteors to radiate from a 
single point,   the important thing is to maintain uniform direction 
of the meteoroids,   and not to "tighten up" the meteoroid 
swarm by gravity,  which would have the opposite effect,  
since it would result in changes in direction of some 
of the meteoroids.
          OK,  if the velocity of the meteoroids relative 
to the earth ( prior to the influence of gravity ) is quite high, 
then the directions of the meteroids would not be 
significantly affected by the earth's gravity.

Larry Fafarman