Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - October 2001
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The Eurpoean observers were rewarded with a nice and warm October after
September was a pain for each of us. At many European sites this month
broke all long-term temperature records. Whereas England was often clouded
out, high pressure systems were connected with frequent sky clearings in
Germany. There were only a few starry nights from dusk till dawn, but the
dozen and more observing nights and sometimes more than hundred hours of
observing time per observer draw a clear picture. It was less dramatic that
just at the Orionid maximum the period of clear skies came to an end. The
average meteor number per hour was still pleasant thanks to the broad
Orionid activity, the Taurids and the increased sporadic rate. Even though
some regular observers (KOSDE, KNOAN, YRJIL) could not observe last month
and there were also just a few observations from the Canary islands, we had
an almost complete coverage of October in the end.
With even better weather our two observers "down under" were active, too,
even though the Australian nights start to get shorter than the European
ones. Both cameras are now operated such that a large percentage of meteors
is recorded by both stations which will allow for orbit determination later
on.
The camera system of Ilkka Yrjola was not operated as the image intensifier
got blind recently. However, Ilkka used the time to experiment with a
hardware cloud detector. The idea is to measure the "sky temperature"
with an IR sensor. If there are clouds an increase in the IR flux can be
measured. Once the system becomes operational it can be used in connection
with MetRec to control camera operation. Together with easier to implement
rain and twilight sensors it would allow for an fully autonomous meteor
observing station.
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 3 14.5 h 50
EVAST Evans L. Thurlow EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 4 10.8 h 37
MCNRO McNaught Coonabarabran SSO1 (1.2/85) 13 dg 9 mag 14 109.3 h 1604
MOLSI Molau Aachen AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 19 111.6 h 808
NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 12 50.2 h 261
QUIST Quirk Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg 5 mag 21 180.7 h 450
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 4 21.5 h 86
AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 14 103.0 h 892
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 5 44.5 h 302
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe FAMOS (2.0/28) 45 dg 5 mag 11 94.4 h 94
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Overall 30 740.5 h 4594
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Oct 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVAST - - 2.5 - - 3.1 - - - - - - - - -
MCNRO - - 9.4 9.1 9.2 7.2 9.2 8.7 - - - 7.9 - 8.3 6.7
MOLSI - - - 2.6 3.9 - 1.6 8.4 6.8 6.3 8.4 5.8 10.3 3.0 2.6
NITMI - 5.1 - 5.1 5.0 - - - 5.0 1.6 - 5.1 5.1 1.0 5.1
QUIST - - 10.3 9.5 7.7 8.2 - 10.1 9.6 5.6 - 10.4 - - 10.0
RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- 1.2 2.4 10.0 - 8.9 - 2.4 9.3 - - 9.2 7.0 9.6 6.4
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - 9.3 10.1 - -
STRJO - - - - 7.3 - - 9.6 - - - 10.6 11.0 1.2 10.0
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Sum - 6.3 24.6 36.3 33.1 27.4 10.8 39.2 30.7 13.5 8.4 58.3 43.5 23.1 40.8
Oct 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - 6.8 4.7 - 3.0 - - -
EVAST - - 2.1 - - - - 3.1 - - - - - - - -
MCNRO - 0.2 7.9 8.7 8.1 - 8.7 - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI 10.9 10.8 - - - 0.9 6.8 - - 6.1 6.3 - - - 5.3 4.8
NITMI - - 2.1 5.0 5.0 - - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST - - 9.7 8.0 9.6 6.3 9.7 - 8.8 - 8.6 9.2 9.2 8.7 8.4 3.1
RENJU - - - - - - - 4.5 - 2.1 - - - - 11.1 3.8
7.7 8.7 - 9.8 10.4 - - - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - - 7.2 8.6 9.3 - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO 10.5 8.5 - 10.9 4.9 - - - - - - - - - 9.9 -
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Sum 29.1 28.2 29.0 51.0 47.3 7.2 25.2 7.6 8.8 15.0 19.6 9.2 12.2 19.7 34.7 11.7
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Oct 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVAST - - 5 - - 11 - - - - - - - - -
MCNRO - - 29 33 60 100 145 181 - - - 157 - 198 127
MOLSI - - - 12 14 - 2 67 41 28 65 58 65 18 41
NITMI - 18 - 15 14 - - - 26 5 - 52 16 2 20
QUIST - - 43 20 21 22 - 31 28 1 - 25 - - 23
RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- 2 4 71 - 59 - 7 79 - - 123 69 64 77
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - 71 58 - -
STRJO - - - - 5 - - 12 - - - 15 8 3 11
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Sum - 20 81 151 114 192 147 298 174 34 65 501 216 285 299
Oct 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - 34 7 - 9 - - -
EVAST - - 11 - - - - 10 - - - - - - - -
MCNRO - 8 131 166 165 - 104 - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI 62 73 - - - 5 66 - - 63 90 - - - 10 28
NITMI - - 7 36 50 - - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST - - 4 28 30 22 23 - 2 - 24 18 23 34 25 3
RENJU - - - - - - - 13 - 11 - - - - 50 12
52 59 - 87 139 - - - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - - 31 65 77 - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO 8 8 - 12 11 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
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Sum 122 148 184 394 472 27 193 23 2 108 121 18 32 34 86 43
Sirko Molau, 2001/11/06