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Canids

No convincing visual observations have ever been recorded from this meteor radiant and the proof of its existence purely comes from the two radio meteor surveys conducted by Z. Sekanina during the 1960s. Since these surveys can detect meteors below naked-eye visibility, future observations will probably again be from sensitive radio/radar systems, although observers using binoculars or telescopes might see a few.

During the two sessions of Sekanina’s Radio Meteor Project, the presence of this stream was apparent each time. The surveys indicated this stream was active during January 13-30. The 1961-1965 survey indicated a nodal passage on January 24.2 (λ=303.7°), from RA=111.8°, DECL=+9.7°. The 1968-1969 survey revealed a nodal passage on January 15.5, however, the radio equipment did not operate during January 18-26, so that the date is probably somewhat biased.

By examining the raw meteor orbits used by Sekanina, the Author noted that the orbit in Sekanina’s 1973 paper, that was derived from the 1961-1965 data, apparently included several meteors with inclinations above 10° (subsequently lowering the average declination). Only one such meteor orbit was present in the 1968-1969 orbit sample. By combining all of the meteors from both radar sessions, the author determined a new average orbit and located several new members that had been previously missed. The average radiant now becomes RA=113.4°, DECL=+12.6°, while the daily motion is +0.97° in RA and -0.35° in DECL.

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