Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - August 2001
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August saw 11 active observers who operated 14 video systems. Even though
two observers (KNOAN and YRJIL) could not observe and the AKM2 camera was
transfered to Juergen Rendtel but not yet operated, the number of cameras
was much higher than in the previous record month July. Detlef Koschny
installed a second camera at his home in Noordwijk and I could operate my large
mirror camera ESCIMO at the Ketzuer meteor camp. In addition we now also get
video data from Czech Ondrejov observatory and their secondary station
Kunzak. Rosta Stork and colleagues operate these systems in double station
mode in selected nights during major showers.
We got a new observer in Australia, too. Steve Quirks has been operating the
second camera of Rob McNaught which records a large amount of meteors even
without an image intensifier thank to the perfect Australian conditions.
The main aim is to obtain double station observations with the primary camera
of Rob, which will be used to derive meteoroid orbits later on. So a large
fraction of meteors recorded by SSO-WAT1 are identical to those recorded by
SSO1.
Austrian Werfried Kuneth will join the network next month. Since August he
has been operating the same sensitive CCD video camera (Watec 902H) without
image intensifier for detecting bright meteors. With a fisheye lens this
camera has a limiting magnitude of 0 mag at a 120 deg field of view. In the
beginning problems occured with the measurement of reference stars, which
is why the August data could not be taken over into the database. The problem
is fixed by now, however.
In summary the August weather was good in Australia and mediocre in central
Europe. There were a number of days with hot Summer weather and clear nights,
but at the Perseid maximum it was overcasted at many sites. So it was the
large number of camera systems that presented us new records with respect to
the meteor number and effective observing time: Both values were in August
2001 alone of the same order as in the full first year of our network (1999).
In the first week of August the weather was especially poor. At that time the
"Meteoroids" conference took place in Kiruna/Sweden. There I presented the
MetRec software, our video network, and the video meteor database. The feedback
by other participants was very encouraging and a number of colleagues are
thinking about using the software in the future, too. So further expansion of
our video network seems to be in sight.
1. Observers
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Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors
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BENOR Benitez S. Maspalomas TIMES4 (1.4/50) 20 dg 8 mag 15 104.4 h 604
EVAST Evans Little Thurlow EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 6 21.0 h 130
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerhout ICC3 (0.75/50) 15 dg 8 mag 6 30.9 h 80
ICC4 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 11 54.6 h 212
MCNRO McNaught Coonabarabran SSO1 (1.2/85) 13 dg 9 mag 18 121.1 h 2525
MOLSI Molau Aachen AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 14 64.9 h 773
AKM2 (1.5/250) 6 dg 10 mag 4 13.2 h 67
NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK2 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 6 25.4 h 386
QUIST Quirks Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (1.4/8) 13 dg 5 mag 22 225.0 h 587
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 13 66.9 h 247
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 11 59.0 h 343
STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 22 dg 8 mag 5 28.6 h 316
Kunzak OND2 (1.4/50) 22 dg 8 mag 5 28.7 h 320
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe FAMOS (2.0/28) 45 dg 5 mag 13 78.1 h 173
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Overall 29 921.8 h 6763
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Aug 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - 7.9 7.7 7.7 6.7 8.0 7.7 7.5
EVAST - - - - - - - - - 5.0 - - 5.0 1.8 -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - 5.3 - - - - -
5.8 - 3.0 - 5.0 - - 5.5 - 6.0 4.4 - - - -
MCNRO - - - 1.9 - 0.7 3.9 10.5 - 8.9 9.8 - 7.8 3.7 -
MOLSI 3.0 - - - - - - - - 3.0 0.7 - 5.6 5.8
- - - - - - - - - - 0.9 - - - 5.1
NITMI - - - - - - - - - - 4.0 2.2 - 5.0 4.1
QUIST 5.8 - 6.0 - - - 3.8 10.9 10.7 9.0 11.4 13.4 12.3 12.2 10.3
RENJU - 4.4 - - - - - - - 4.5 - - - 5.8 6.2
SPEUL 4.9 - - 3.2 - - - - - 3.4 - - - - 5.6
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - 4.9 3.6 6.7 6.7
- - - - - - - - - - - 5.0 3.6 6.7 6.7
STRJO 5.7 - - - 5.4 - - - - - 2.7 - - 6.6 6.5
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Sum 25.2 4.4 9.0 5.1 10.4 0.7 7.7 26.9 18.6 52.8 41.6 32.2 40.3 61.8 64.5
Aug 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR 7.2 7.2 4.7 7.1 6.2 - 6.7 - 5.6 6.5 - - - - - -
EVAST 3.1 - - - 3.0 - - - 3.1 - - - - - - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - 4.2 5.8 - 5.7 6.5 3.4 - -
- - - - - - - - 4.3 6.0 - 4.4 6.6 3.6 - -
MCNRO - 9.1 3.3 10.2 5.0 8.9 7.8 9.6 10.2 - - - - 9.8 - -
MOLSI 2.3 4.7 - 5.5 - 6.8 7.1 6.5 - 5.1 - - 3.3 5.5 - -
2.1 5.1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NITMI - - 5.0 5.1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST 11.9 11.0 11.5 11.8 7.9 11.1 11.3 11.6 11.2 11.3 - - - - 8.6 -
RENJU 2.9 3.3 - - 2.0 - 7.0 6.8 - 7.2 - 4.2 - 7.6 5.0 -
SPEUL - 4.5 - 5.8 - 5.5 6.3 7.0 - - - 5.8 - 7.0 - -
STORO 6.7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - 3.7 - - 7.0 6.9 - 4.4 6.9 - 7.4 7.4 7.5 - -
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Sum 42.9 44.9 28.2 45.4 24.1 39.3 53.1 41.5 43.0 48.8 - 27.5 23.8 44.4 13.6 -
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Aug 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - 36 34 67 56 39 67 47
EVAST - - - - - - - - - 38 - - 41 8 -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - 2 - - - - -
40 - 10 - 16 - - 8 - 16 4 - - - -
MCNRO - - - 1 - 6 26 108 - 39 82 - 141 69 -
MOLSI 60 - - - - - - - - 78 13 - - 92 121
- - - - - - - - - - 6 - - - 27
NITMI - - - - - - - - - - 80 35 - 107 50
QUIST 72 - 3 - - - 5 31 27 25 10 21 32 27 23
RENJU - 11 - - - - - - - 42 - - - 27 25
SPEUL 39 - - 12 - - - - - 52 - - - - 46
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - 84 44 76 69
- - - - - - - - - - - 91 52 68 63
STRJO 22 - - - 18 - - - - - 9 - - 25 16
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Sum 233 11 13 13 34 6 31 147 63 326 271 287 349 566 487
Aug 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR 39 41 28 42 39 - 19 - 20 30 - - - - - -
EVAST 18 - - - 9 - - - 16 - - - - - - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - 5 28 - 17 20 8 - -
- - - - - - - - 14 41 - 17 33 13 - -
MCNRO - 225 70 274 161 306 237 382 340 - - - - 58 - -
MOLSI 11 37 - 72 - 56 32 42 - 81 - - 39 39 - -
6 28 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NITMI - - 62 52 - - - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST 17 15 26 32 25 34 39 42 40 18 - - - - 23 -
RENJU 9 12 - 2 - - 14 24 - 27 - 20 - 27 7 -
SPEUL - 26 - 23 - 29 16 24 - - - 44 - 32 - -
STORO 43 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
46 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - 11 - - 15 8 - 6 7 - 12 14 10 - -
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Sum 189 384 197 497 234 440 365 514 441 232 - 110 106 187 30 -
Sirko Molau, 2001/09/17