Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - January 2002
========================================================
I'm still collecting and entering the missing data of 2001, and the first
month of the new year is already over...
The only hightlight of Januray were the Quadrantids. Their maximum, however,
was not very well located. For the European observers it fell into the
evening hours of January 3. The moon was still below the horizon, but the in
mid-northern latitudes circumpolar radiant jut reached it's lower
culmination by that time. So the observed meteor rates stayed low despite
the high ZHR. The meteors entered the atmosphere almost grazing and left
as expected long trails. Later at night the radiant was rising higher, but
rates were already declining and the bright moon illuminated the night sky.
At least there were clear skies at most European observing sites, so the
number of recorded meteors was still satisfactory.
Later in January the drough period of the year started - at least for the
northern hemisphere observers. Both of our two Australian meteor hunters
observed again in more than twenty nights and recorded many shooting stars.
Of interest is a comparion of their meteor counts, since there have been
many disucssions about meteor observations with sensitive video cameras
without image intensifiers recently. Steve Quirk operates the extremely
sensitive but still quite expensive Watec-902H with 1/2" CCD chip.
In the last few months there have been cheaper PAL and NTSC cameras (starting
at US$ 100) of similar sensitivity, which employ the new 1/3" EXview HAD
CCD chip of Sony. The trick: There is a little lens mounted on top of each
pixel, which increases the light collection area. The quantum efficiency of
the chip is of the order of 80%, it is sensitive over a large spectral range
and it has only little readout noise. More sensitivity is hardly to be
achieved as we approach the limits set by physics here.
More information about the chip can be obtained at
http://www.roperscientific.de/tinterline.html, for example.
It is obvious that under perfect observing conditions as in Australia
you can record plenty of meteors even without an image intensifier, but an
intensified cameras is still much more sensitive and therefore more
successful. Under ordinary European conditions the number of recorded meteors
decreases further.
In summary these new sensitive video cameras are useful for meteor
observation, but don't expect myricals. An advantage is their low price and
their robustness. You don't have to worry when the moon enters your field
of view or if you operate the camera accidently well into daylight. In
addition, you have a larger percentage of shower meteors compared to cameras
with limiting magnitudes well beyond 7 mag, since at fainter magnitudes
sporadic meteors with their large population index soon dominate the scenery.
1. Observers
============
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 1 6.7 h 6
EVAST Evans L. Thurlow EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 2 8.4 h 74
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.75/50) 15 dg 8 mag 4 31.3 h 50
MCNRO McNaught Coonabarabran SSO1 (1.2/85) 13 dg 9 mag 20 108.7 h 2263
MOLSI Molau Aachen AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 9 90.0 h 300
NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 10 44.7 h 128
QUIST Quirk Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg 5 mag 21 160.6 h 392
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 9 67.9 h 314
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 1 11.5 h 61
STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 22 dg 8 mag 1 13.2 h 113
Kunzak KUN1 (1.4/50) 22 dg 8 mag 1 13.0 h 144
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe FAMOS (2.0/28) 45 dg 3 mag 11 94.4 h 94
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Sum 27 625.3 h 3880
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6.7 -
EVAST - - 6.1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - - - 11.7 0.3 - -
MCNRO 3.9 7.3 6.9 2.4 6.6 - - 3.5 7.2 7.2 6.2 6.6 6.3 - -
MOLSI - - 12.8 13.2 13.0 - - 12.0 12.6 - - - - - -
NITMI - 2.2 5.0 5.0 4.9 - - - 5.1 5.0 - - 5.1 5.0 5.1
QUIST 7.7 7.4 7.0 - - - - 7.9 7.7 7.8 7.6 8.0 8.0 7.1 -
RENJU - 11.5 12.8 8.3 6.5 - - - - - - - - 8.6 11.5
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11.5
STORO - - 13.2 - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - 13.0 - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - 12.8 13.4 5.2 - - 11.8 - 10.9 - - 6.5 - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 11.6 28.4 89.6 42.3 36.2 - - 35.2 32.6 30.9 13.8 26.3 26.2 27.4 28.1
Jan 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVAST - 2.3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KOSDE - - - 9.1 - 10.2 - - - - - - - - - -
MCNRO - 4.6 6.8 - 5.6 - - - 0.5 2.9 6.7 - 7.3 - 6.6 3.6
MOLSI 1.0 - - - - 10.1 - - - - - - 9.8 - - 5.5
NITMI - 2.3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST 8.0 8.4 8.4 - 7.8 - - - - 6.4 8.0 4.7 8.3 8.1 8.7 7.6
RENJU - 5.3 - 0.8 - - - - - - - - - - - 2.6
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8.7
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 9.0 22.9 15.2 9.9 13.4 20.3 - - 0.5 9.3 14.7 4.7 25.4 8.1 15.3 28.0
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6 -
EVAST - - 63 - - - - - - - - - - - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - - - 16 1 - -
MCNRO 22 86 119 11 74 - - 145 210 129 216 209 262 - -
MOLSI - - 108 39 22 - - 45 44 - - - - - -
NITMI - 7 33 18 8 - - - 24 12 - - 9 8 8
QUIST 26 20 21 - - - - 29 10 12 32 17 27 11 -
RENJU - 61 117 43 7 - - - - - - - - 36 39
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 61
STORO - - 113 - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - 144 - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - 16 3 1 - - 4 - 4 - - 3 - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 48 174 734 114 112 - - 223 288 157 248 242 302 61 108
Jan 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVAST - 11 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KOSDE - - - 12 - 21 - - - - - - - - - -
MCNRO - 195 212 - 174 - - - 12 95 25 - 26 - 27 14
MOLSI 3 - - - - 18 - - - - - - 16 - - 5
NITMI - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST 19 20 19 - 18 - - - - 20 30 12 25 2 20 2
RENJU - 7 - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - 2
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4
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Sum 22 234 231 14 192 39 - - 12 115 55 12 67 2 47 27
Sirko Molau, 2002/02/13