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RASC Award for Meteor Researcher - Ed Majden...

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This article is an excerpt from NAMN Notes, written by Cathy Hall, and available online from the North American Meteor Network website. Article reprinted with permission.

On the Victoria Day weekend in May [2006] in Canada, Ed Majden was awarded the Chant Medal of the RASC, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, for his contributions to astronomy.

The Chant Medal was established in 1940 by the Society "in appreciation of the great work of the late Prof. C.A. Chant in furthering the interests of astronomy in Canada". This medal is awarded to an amateur astronomer resident in Canada "on the basis of the value of the work carried out in astronomy and closely allied fields of the original investigation."

Clarence Augustus Chant is often called the 'father of Canadian astronomy', for his efforts to expand astronomy education in Canada, and establish professional astronomical facilities. He is also well known for a very unusual meteor event that occurred on Sunday, February 9th, 1913, in the skies over North America. A large number of slow majestic meteors traveled in small groups on a similar path across the sky, one group after another in procession. Chant documented the observations - and the meteor event is now known as "Chant's procession". Chant's extremely interesting paper on this event, "An Extraordinary Meteoric Display", complete with many drawings and observers' reports, can be printed off from the ADS website at adswww.harvard.edu by looking under "Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada", 1913, Vol. 7, p. 145, ref. '1913JRASC...7..145C'.

How fitting that the Chant Medal should now be awarded to a dedicated meteor researcher!

We asked Ed Majden a number of questions about his meteor observations and research. The following comments are in his own words, as provided in an interview for NAMN:

1. How did you originally get interested in studying meteors?

"I joined the Regina Astronomical Society as a young student in 1953. My first exciting observation was that of the transit of Mercury in this same year. The RAS conducted visual meteor observations in support of Dr. Peter Millman's meteor programs at the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa. I was introduced to meteor observing at this time and found this very interesting. As Secretary of the RAS, I helped organize a province-wide observation program called Operation Perseid. See: JRASC Vol 51, No. 2"

2. What was your working career? What types of work did you do? Was your career related to meteors in any way, or were meteors an interest that followed due to related fields (electronics, optics, etc.... )

"After high school I enlisted in the RCAF and was trained as an Armament Systems Technician. We looked after FCS Radars in fighter aircraft, missile guidance systems, and even torpedoes if you were posted to Maritime Command. The highlight of my career was a posting with RCAF No. 1 Air Division in Europe. I spent a couple of months at 2(F) Wing in France on CF-100's and then was transferred to 3(F) Wing Zweibrucken, Germany where we accepted our new CF-104 Strike Recon. fighters. Another highlight was working on the Bomarc SAM at La Macaza, Quebec and later North Bay Bomarc. My military career ended after 27 years 8 months of service, at CFB Comox in 1986. Coming from the cold Prairies, I decided to retire here in Courtenay, B.C.. The skies are not as clear as Saskatchewan, especially in the winter, but the advantage is not freezing your butt or continuously shovelling snow, ha! ha!!"

3. Where were you born? Where have you lived over the years... and how did you end up in Courtenay, B.C.?

"I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in October 1939. As noted above, I was stationed at various units across Canada and then Europe. My first ops station was St. Hubert, Quebec where I worked on the CF-100 interceptor."

4. Who were the meteor researchers that originally inspired you when you first got started?

"When I joined the Regina Astronomical Society, the late John V. Hodges was active in meteor spectroscopy, with an objective prism mounted on an old cut film tourist camera. The Regina group obtained their first spectrum in 1955, which was designated as World List Spectrum Number 187. This was the year the RAS Observatory was completed, and Dr. Peter M. Millman came out for the official opening. Peter was of course an early pioneer in meteor spectroscopy and was a world authority. Peter and John got me interested in this field. The RAS obtained a second spectrum in 1956, designated as Spectrum Number 201 on Millman's World List. Meteor spectra were still few in number so all were considered important at this time. The first meteor spectrum was obtained by chance in 1897 during a Harvard stellar spectra patrol program. At the end of 1958 there were only 318 known meteor spectra on record."

5. What was your very first meteor project?

"John Hodges adapted his prism to an old Olympus 120 camera that I had. When he was not using it I tried in vain to capture a spectrum but was not successful. This was during IGY in 1957/58. At this time I was elected president of the Regina Society, and was also the IGY Meteor Program Reporter for the group. When I enlisted in the RCAF I became an armchair astronomer so to speak, reading many papers on meteor spectra that were kindly sent to me by Dr. Peter Millman and Dr. Ian Halliday, and others."

6. Over the years, what new projects, or new directions did your meteor work take?

"In 1969 I read a paper by Professor John A. Russell in Sky & Tel. He was using a surplus K-24 aero lens fitted with an objective prism to record meteor spectra. This sparked my interest again, and I started looking for a prism of my own. The one I found was unsatisfactory as it was a large 60 degree prism of dubious quality. I mentioned this to Peter Millman and he suggested that I have my prism cut into two 30 degree prisms. Not having the capability to do this, Peter found a firm in Ottawa that could do this at a price I could then afford. I mounted one of the prisms on a surplus F-2.5 Aero Ektar lens and fitted it to an old 4X5 Crown Graphic camera. I obtained two Perseid spectra with this unit in 1972 when visiting my sister in Boundary Bay, B.C.. I never looked back since, as I was bitten by this bug!"

7. What are your current meteor projects?

"I am still using my old objective prism units to obtain spectra. My best one to date was obtained in 1986, and Dr. Jiri Borovicka (at the Czech Academy of Sciences and Ondrejov Observatory) and I wrote a joint paper that was published in the JRASC. Sadly, the meteor programs at NRC were terminated as a budget saving measure so I had to look elsewhere for experts in this field. Jiri Borovicka kindly volunteered to measure my best spectra. I have since added transmission gratings and an image intensifier system to my equipment. See my home page at: members.shaw.ca/epmajden/"

8. Who are your current meteor mentors?

"My current mentors are Dr. Jiri Borovicka, head of the meteor spectra program in the Czech Republic. Also one of Jiri's grad students, Dr. Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez in Spain. I have also been in contact with Dr. Peter Jenniskens, from NASA/SETI. He has my video intensified spectra in his archive and hopefully they will be of some use in the future. I am also in contact with Dr. Bob Hawkes, Dr. Peter Brown and other MIAC members. Also Dr. Jeremy Tatum who is not a meteor spectroscopist but has a lot of experience with stellar spectra and orbits, etc.."

9. What project results over the years have brought you the most personal satisfaction?

"Nothing really sticks out here. Any spectrum that I record is exciting as spectra on film are difficult to obtain using conventional equipment. Today, there are many spectra on record so only the best get measured, as this is rather time consuming and professionals have limited time for this."

10. What project results over the years do you believe have been of the most use to the professional meteor researchers?

"Jiri Borovicka found my 1986 Perseid spectrum useful and as mentioned, a paper was presented on it. Also, I hope my image intensified Leonid storm spectra will prove useful in the future."

11. If a new person starting out in meteors wanted to get involved in the type of meteor projects that you have been doing, what type of skills would they need?

"This is a difficult question to answer. I once asked Ian Halliday if this was still worth doing. He commented that the utility of doing spectroscopy is complex but is still worth the effort. An amateur like myself operates from a single location. It is very desirable to have height information by triangulation. This requires setting up another station 30 to 100 km. away. So far I have not found anyone that wants to do this."

"Today, precision blazed transmission gratings are preferred over objective prism units. Such gratings are expensive especially in larger sizes. Large format cameras with long fast focal length lenses such as Kodak Aero Ektars, etc. are ideal. I have modified an F-24 British Aero camera to accept 4X5 cut film. Unfortunately at $1.00 plus for each exposure this can quickly add up. I also use a 120 format camera which reduces the cost of film but dispersion is less than the 4X5 system. In the past, professionals used 8X10 glass plates but the cost of doing this is prohibitive. These units will only record spectra of meteors of -2.0 magnitude and brighter so your chances of recording a good spectrum is rather slim. You can use up a lot of film before one is recorded."

"Amateurs tend to concentrate their efforts during the peak periods of major meteor showers as this increases one's chances of recording a spectrum. Unfortunately today, there are many spectra recorded from major showers like the Perseids and Geminids. Unless you record a very good spectrum from these showers it probably will not add anything new to the science, so is unlikely to be measured at this time. Spectra from minor showers are still few in number so these can still be important. Also, it is highly desirable to record the spectrum of a possible meteorite dropping fireball. Chances of doing this are rather slim however. The Czechs recorded a fireball spectrum with over 1000 lines measured. A dream of mine!"

"There is very little written on this subject for amateur consumption. Probably the best source is the IMO Photographic Handbook, available for download on their website. See www.imo.net and www.imo.net/photo/handbook. There is a chapter written on meteor spectroscopy."

"Other sources I use are professional papers on this topic. Somewhat difficult for the novice to understand and digest. Many of these are available on ADS, the Astronomical Data Service website at: adswww.harvard.edu & adsabs.harvard.edu/ads_abstracts.html You can also check a good library for technical publications on this subject. This will give you some idea of what professional researchers are doing."

"Dr. Martin Beech from the University of Regina has just published a book for meteor enthusiasts. It even has a couple of my photographs in it I'm told. I have not seen a copy yet but Dr. Jeremy Tatum recommends it and is writing a review of it. It's published in England, and might be hard to find here. The publisher is Crowood Press. It's called "Meteors and Meteorites: Origins and Observations", paperback, publication date February 2006, ISBN number 1 86126 825 4. The Crowood website is at www.crowoodpress.co.uk"

12. Could you give us some web links to further information on your meteor projects and the types of research you are doing?

"The best thing to do here is a Google Search for 'meteor spectra', 'meteor spectroscopy', etc. This will turn up many hits of this subject. Too many to list here."

13. With light pollution becoming an issue all over the globe, what do you see as the best projects for dedicated amateur meteor observers in the future?

"Light pollution is indeed a problem. This can limit the length of your time exposures. One just has to experiment to see what is acceptable. My own backyard observatory site is unfortunately getting worse every year but I guess you have to learn to live with this."

Congratulations go out to Ed Majden for being awarded the Chant Medal of the RASC!

 
 

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Last updated: December 12, 2013

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