Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - June 2001 =================================================== The first few June nights were a complete loss for the European observers. A few cloud gap observations followed, but only after the solstitium the picture really improved. Temperatures increased and there was a longer spell of clear skies which was used by most observers. In June we had first light for one of the two new AKM video meteor cameras. It was operated by me in parallel to my own camera AVIS from Aachen. Even though AKM2 has a smaller field of view and only a little better limiting magnitude, it recorded more meteors that AVIS in all nights. This shows how powerful the new cameras are. Juergen Rendtel worked for two weeks at the observatory on Teneriffe, where he operated the camera of Luis Bellot. Skies at the observatory were not only clear all the time, but due to the low geographic latitude the nights were also twice as long as in Germany. The really dark skies did the the rest of the job. In the end Juergen recorded on average more than a hundred meteors per night. However, this should not discourage other observers with less perfect observing sites. The hourly rate at the observatory was 15. That's "only" a factor 4..5 more than what other cameras recorded at the bright June skies. In the presence of moon this difference decreases significantly, and so many clear nights are the exception, anyway. So we need the data from all cameras! No need to add that the "drought time" for the northern hemisphere observers is almost over. The nights are getting longer again and meteor activity is increasing significantly. In 2000 80% of all meteors were recorded in the second half of the year! By the end of June most observers recorded a few June-Bootids. However, an outburst as in 1998 was not observed, which is also confirmed by visual observations. Even Rob McNaught could catch a few JBOs down under. He gained from the large zenithal attraction caused by the low encounter velocity of the meteoroids of that stream. The nominal radiant never climbs higher than 10 deg over the Coonabarabran horizon. Rob also proved that he is always good for a new record: On June 16 he recorded more than 500 meteors - that's almost twice as much as we recorded in the whole of June 2000! 1. Observers ============ Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR Benitez S. Maspalomas TIMES4 (1.4/50) 20 dg 8 mag 5 27.5 h 123 EVAST Evans Little Thurlow EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 2 5.5 h 11 KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerhout ICC4 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 5 18.9 h 44 KNOAN Knoefel Duesseldorf VIDEOMET (0.75/50) 20 dg 7 mag 1 3.5 h 7 MCNRO McNaught Coonabarabran SSO1 (1.2/85) 13 dg 9 mag 18 161.18 h 4173 SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 9 dg 7 mag 5 43.6 h 128 MOLSI Molau Aachen AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 14 42.6 h 152 AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 4 13.0 h 73 RENJU Rendtel Marquardt CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 1 2.0 h 4 Izana TIMES1 (1.4/50) 20 dg 7 mag 12 95.2 h 1599 STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe FAMOS (2.0/28) 45 dg 5 mag 7 25.7 h 49 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall 29 438.0 h 6363 2. Observing Times (h) ====================== Jun 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - - - 6.2 5.7 6.1 - - - - EVAST - - - - - - - 3.0 - - - - - - - KOSDE - - - - - - - 2.8 - 4.3 - - - - - KNOAN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MCNRO 2.4 9.7 3.4 - - - - - - - 8.1 - - 7.3 3.2 - 2.0 - 7.3 11.1 11.7 - - - 11.5 - - - - - MOLSI - - - - - - - - - - 1.0 4.6 1.7 1.0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - 2.0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STRJO - - - - - - - - - 3.0 - - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 2.4 11.7 3.4 7.3 11.1 11.7 - 5.8 6.2 24.5 15.2 6.6 1.7 8.3 3.2 Jun 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR 5.5 - - - - - 4.0 - - - - - - - - EVAST - - - - - - 2.5 - - - - - - - - KOSDE - - - - - - - 3.6 4.1 4.1 - - - - - KNOAN - - - - - - - - - - 3.5 - - - - MCNRO 10.9 10.1 11.4 9.7 11.1 - 10.3 10.9 - 5.1 9.7 10.9 8.4 7.2 11.3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MOLSI - - - 4.4 2.6 4.0 4.1 4.6 2.9 4.6 4.0 - - 0.3 2.8 - - - - - 3.1 - - 2.5 3.9 3.5 - - - - RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8.0 7.7 8.1 5.1 8.0 7.7 7.3 7.8 8.1 7.8 5.3 8.1 6.2 - - STRJO - - - 3.6 - - - 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.8 - - 3.6 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 24.4 17.8 19.5 22.8 21.7 14.8 28.2 30.6 21.2 29.3 29.6 19.0 14.6 11.1 14.1 3. Results (Meteors) ==================== Jun 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - - - 15 21 22 - - - - EVAST - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - KOSDE - - - - - - - 10 - 2 - - - - - KNOAN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MCNRO 190 270 35 - - - - - - - 141 - - 148 24 - 6 - 30 40 25 - - - 27 - - - - - MOLSI - - - - - - - - - - 2 9 3 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STRJO - - - - - - - - - 3 - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 190 276 35 30 40 25 - 14 15 53 165 13 3 149 24 Jun 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR 49 - - - - - 16 - - - - - - - - EVAST - - - - - - 7 - - - - - - - - KOSDE - - - - - - - 6 18 8 - - - - - KNOAN - - - - - - - - - - 7 - - - - MCNRO 508 286 349 291 327 - 298 248 - 93 276 265 138 146 140 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MOLSI - - - 13 10 19 18 32 9 15 12 - - 1 8 - - - - - 22 - - 11 22 18 - - - - RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 98 90 122 105 161 132 117 157 101 93 79 153 191 - - STRJO - - - 11 - - - 7 7 8 7 - - 6 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 655 376 471 420 498 173 456 450 146 239 399 418 329 153 148 Sirko Molau, 2001/07/12