Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - September 2002 ======================================================== For the second time we managed to cover all nights of a month by video meteor observations. With an overall of 850 hours observing time, September 2002 ranked second after August 2001. Thanks to a perfect late summer, the first part of September presented to the observers nice weather and clear skies in most parts of central Europe. We could collect almost 560 hours of observing time in the first 15 days, which comes down to an average of 37 hours per day. In the second half of September, the weather in Germany was rainy and cold for two weeks. However, thanks to the observers in Finland and Australia our network monitored meteor activity in all these nights as well. There were three AKM members who reported 17 observing nights in September with more than hundred hours of effective observing time. The variable number of their meteor counts under approximately comparabale observing conditions reflects the efficiencies of the different meteor cameras. The Mintron camera of Joerg Strunk recorded on average remarkable 2.3 meteors/hour without an image intensifier. My own intensified camera AVIS, which is getting older by time, detected 7.2 meteors per hour, whereas the newest camera AKM2 yielded an hourly average of 9.2 meteors. The AKM network further expanded in Germany because I moved into the northern part of Munich. The new observing site is also darker than the balcony of my old Aachen home. Now we have camera stations in the north east, the west and the south of Germany, so we also have a good coverage in case that only some parts of Germany are free of clouds. After the Scandinavian summer was unusally sunny and warm, Ilkka Yrjola even obtained 18 observing nights in Finland last month. In addition, he was able to provide the precise appearance time of a bright fireball on September 19, which was reported to last for three seconds and cause meteor sounds at some places. At the canary islands, on the other hand, Orlando Benitez-Sanchez had to step down a little after the last months had been very successful there. Last but not least a word on our Australian observer Steve Quirk, who observed in 23 nights and was unbeatable as always. His camera without image intensifier recorded 2.1 meteors per hour on average which is comparable to the result of Joergs camera. However, the southern winter is over and now the unattractive spring time with minimum sporadic meteor activity starts down under. Otherwise the Australian sky would have presented some more meteors. 1. Observers ============ Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR Benitz-S. Maspalomas TIMES4 (1.4/50) 20 dg 4 mag 4 37.7 h 65 EVAST Evans Moreton EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 2 4.1 h 18 KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC4 (0.85/25) 26 dg 6 mag 10 65.3 h 328 MOLSI Molau Muenchen AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 17 112.7 h 811 NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 7 33.1 h 141 QUIST Quirk Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg 5 mag 23 229.9 h 486 RENJU Rendtel Marquardt AKM2 (0.95/25) 32 dg 6 mag 17 127.3 h 1175 SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 4 28.8 h 224 STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 22 dg 8 mag 2 17.0 h 136 STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 17 109.7 h 255 YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski NONAME (2.0/35) 35 dg 6 mag 18 79.9 h 224 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 30 845.5 h 3863 2. Observing Times (h) ====================== Sept 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - 7.0 7.6 7.6 7.5 - - - - - EVAST 1.1 - - - - - 3.0 - - - - - - - - KOSDE 6.0 8.1 - - - - - - - - - 9.0 3.4 - 9.3 MOLSI - - 8.0 - 6.0 8.5 3.5 7.7 - 4.0 2.9 8.0 8.3 0.7 4.7 NITMI - 2.9 - - - - - 5.1 5.0 - 5.0 5.1 5.0 - - QUIST - 9.6 8.6 9.7 10.9 10.1 9.8 11.4 10.4 10.6 10.5 11.0 10.4 10.7 11.1 RENJU 7.6 7.4 7.8 - 6.7 - 7.0 8.4 8.2 8.0 8.2 8.6 8.8 8.5 8.6 SPEUL 7.0 - - - - - - 7.0 7.8 - 7.0 - - - - STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STRJO - 7.5 8.0 - 8.0 8.3 8.5 8.5 - - - 9.0 6.2 3.6 9.3 YRJIL 4.1 - 5.2 5.0 4.9 - - 1.3 - 6.4 6.8 0.4 4.4 - 5.3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 25.8 35.5 37.6 14.7 36.5 26.9 38.8 57.0 39.0 36.5 40.4 51.1 46.5 23.5 48.3 Sept 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8.0 - EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KOSDE - - - - - - - 7.7 1.2 - - 4.2 - 8.8 7.6 MOLSI 4.5 9.2 7.8 - - - - - - - - - 8.6 10.1 10.2 NITMI - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5.0 QUIST - - - - 10.3 10.0 10.1 10.2 - 9.8 9.6 5.2 9.8 - 10.1 RENJU - - 4.1 - - - - - 6.8 - - 2.9 - - 9.7 SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8.0 9.0 STRJO 0.5 3.3 - - - - - - 6.9 0.5 - - 1.3 10.0 10.3 YRJIL - - 1.2 4.6 6.3 0.9 - 6.8 - 6.4 3.6 - - 6.3 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 5.0 12.5 13.1 4.6 16.6 10.9 10.1 24.7 14.9 16.7 13.2 12.3 19.7 51.2 61.9 3. Results (Meteors) ==================== Sept 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - 15 13 8 24 - - - - - EVAST 5 - - - - - 13 - - - - - - - - KOSDE 35 32 - - - - - - - - - 64 15 - 37 MOLSI - - 53 - 42 55 31 47 - 19 7 62 48 4 52 NITMI - 9 - - - - - 18 13 - 38 22 19 - - QUIST - 6 3 34 15 9 26 26 22 31 27 29 30 22 18 RENJU 86 90 53 - 50 - 35 61 41 49 110 112 93 103 97 SPEUL 64 - - - - - - 66 39 - 55 - - - - STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STRJO - 26 11 - 4 9 17 28 - - - 27 12 21 21 YRJIL 11 - 7 12 4 - - 5 - 24 17 1 36 - 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 201 163 127 46 115 73 137 264 123 147 254 317 253 150 244 Sept 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 - EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KOSDE - - - - - - - 33 8 - - 31 - 54 19 MOLSI 55 68 35 - - - - - - - - - 74 80 79 NITMI - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 22 QUIST - - - - 34 29 11 28 - 25 18 6 18 - 19 RENJU - - 26 - - - - - 38 - - 45 - - 86 SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - 55 81 STRJO 1 3 - - - - - - 15 1 - - 3 26 30 YRJIL - - 6 19 11 2 - 12 - 22 7 - - 9 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 56 71 67 19 45 31 11 73 61 48 25 82 95 229 336 Sirko Molau, 2002/10/15