Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - January 2000 ====================================================== January 2000 was a very successful month for the AKM video observers. The Quadrantid maximum was completely missed due to clouds, but the weather became better in the following days and allowed quite a good coverage of the meteor activity at the begin of the year. Remarkable was January 5./6.: All 5 video systems were operated throughout the full night resulting in 253 meteor records obtained in almost 60 hours effective observing time. January also proved how different the weather can be within Germany. At some times there were clouds in Brandenburg and Saxony but clear skies over North Rhine Westfalia, and at other times it was vice versa. The automatic video meteor observations that have been carried out in Germany since March 1999 are unique. Even though other observers also use video equipment for the observation of selected showers, there are currently no other video cameras operated at all times. In the first 10 months of operation, an overall of 5 observers were able to record 6474 meteors in 120 nights and 1002.4 hours effective observing time. Table 1: Observing times of the AKM video observers in 1999 Observer Nights Time Meteors ---------------------------------------- Sirko Molau 76 406.4 h 3901 Juergen Rendtel 72 439.3 h 1851 Ulrich Sperberg 15 95.1 h 318 Michael Gerding 7 57.0 h 276 Mirko Nitschke 3 4.6 h 128 Whereas there was only one active station in Aachen in the first four months, there has been a second camera station in Marquardt since July. For this reason and thanks to improved meteor detection software we obtained much more data in the second half of the year (see Table 2). Additional support came from occasional observations in Salzwedel, Kuehlungsborn, and Dresden. Most recorded meteors are sporadic or belong to the Leonid or Perseid meteor shower. However, as shown in Table 3, also many meteors of minor showers were observed. Currently all data is collected and revised. The complete '99 data set will be available on two CD-Roms soon. Table 2: Monatly distribution of Table 3: Top-10 meteor observations in 1999 showers 1999 Month Nights Time Meteors Shower Meteors -------------------------------- ---------------------- January - - - Leonids 685 February - - - Perseids 485 March 6 36.8 91 Taurids 482 April 5 23.4 57 Orionids 387 May 7 24.9 54 delta-Aquarids 123 June 6 23.2 62 kappa-Cygnids 85 July 14 95.7 504 iota-Aquarids 79 August 23 152.1 1594 Piscids 73 September 19 196.2 525 Geminids 68 October 19 227.0 1512 epsilon-Geminids 59 November 11 174.4 1749 ---------------------- December 10 48.7 326 Sporadics 3662 -------------------------------- Overall 120 1002.4 6474 1. Observers ============ Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GERMI Gerding Kuehlungsborn IAP1 (0.75/65) 15 deg 8.0 mag 2 25.6 h 76 MOLSI Molau Aachen AVIS (2.0/35) 40 deg 5.0 mag 8 50.8 h 272 NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 deg 7.0 mag 6 35.3 h 209 RENJU Rendtel Marquardt CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 deg 4.5 mag 12 63.0 h 90 SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel ADAM (0.75/50) 20 deg 7.0 mag 2 16.1 h 32 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall 17 190.8 h 679 2. Observing Times (h) ====================== Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GERMI - - - - 11.7 - - - - - - - - - - MOLSI - - 1.4 - 10.0 - 2.7 - - 10.9 10.4 - - - - NITMI - - - - 11.0 3.6 3.7 - - - 5.0 8.0 - - - RENJU - - - - 12.7 3.5 10.4 - - - - - 4.3 - - SPEUL - - - - 12.0 - - - - - 4.1 - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum - - 1.4 - 57.4 7.1 16.8 - - 10.9 19.5 8.0 4.3 - - Jan 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GERMI - - 13.9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - MOLSI - - - - - - - - 0.2 7.5 7.7 - - - - - NITMI - - - - - - - 4.0 - - - - - - - - RENJU - - 12.5 1.7 - 2.2 - 2.0 7.2 3.5 - - - - 0.8 2.2 SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum - - 26.4 1.7 - 2.2 - 6.0 7.4 11.0 7.7 - - - 0.8 2.2 3. Results (Meteors) ==================== Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GERMI - - - - 34 - - - - - - - - - - MOLSI - - 4 - 78 - 17 - - 42 80 - - - - NITMI - - - - 86 14 9 - - - 19 76 - - - RENJU - - - - 28 1 16 - - - - - 3 - - SPEUL - - - - 27 - - - - - 5 - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum - - 4 - 253 15 42 - - 42 104 76 3 - - Jan 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GERMI - - 42 - - - - - - - - - - - - - MOLSI - - - - - - - - 4 22 25 - - - - - NITMI - - - - - - - 5 - - - - - - - - RENJU - - 13 4 - 1 - 1 12 9 - - - - 1 1 SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum - - 55 4 - 1 - 6 16 31 25 - - - 1 1 Sirko Molau, 2000/02/08