Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - January 2003
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Normally one would think that January is a bad month for meteor observation.
Usually this winter month implies cloudy skies and little sunshine. The last
three year drew a different picture, though. In January 2001 we collected
546.1 hours of effective observing time (that's more than 23 full days) and
recorded 1798 meteors. The following year yielded 625.3 hours and 3878 meteors,
and in January 2003 we observed in 636.4 hours an overall of 1632 meteors.
There were observations in almost every January night between 2001 and 2003,
which results in a good temporal coverage. This year the first part of the
month saw many clear nights. In the second half the picture became somewhat
worse, but thanks to the large extension of the network there was usually at
least somewhere a gap in the clouds.
Joerg Strunk had to suspend video meteor observation in January because of
computer problems. On the other hand, Andre Knoefel resumed operation of
his camera together with two friends from the public observatory of Essen.
My own camera is operated from a new site since January, which is
significantly better from the astronomical point of view than Aachen and
Munich: Seysdorf is a little village about 50 km north of Munich.
Ilkka Yrjola enjoyed unusually good weather in Finland and collected up to
15 hours of observing time in a single night thanks to his observing site
in the far north. Orlando Benitez-Sanchez also had winter at his observing
site on the Canary islands, but his nights were hardly longer than 8 hours at
best. Therefore they were also somewhat warmer ... :-)
Last but not least, Steve Quirk managed again to observe over 300 meteors in
more than 20 nights in the Australian summer - more than any other observer.
In the months to come this gap will further increase, as the northern sites
witness the annual meteor activity minimum, whereas sporadic meteors have
their maximum down under.
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 4 mag 11 77.0 h 127
EVAST Evans Moreton EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 2 8.8 h 48
KNOAN Knoefel Essen VIDEOMET (0.75/50) 20 dg 7 mag 6 21.6 h 58
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 9 74.2 h 254
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 10 50.5 h 228
NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 4 16.7 h 17
QUIST Quirk Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg 5 mag 22 158.2 h 325
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 2 23.0 h 178
CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 7 47.9 h 118
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 3 16.6 h 48
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski NONAME (2.0/35) 38 dg 6 mag 15 141.9 h 231
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Sum 30 636.4 h 1632
2. Observing Times (h)
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Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - 8.2 7.4 6.1 6.2 - - 7.4 8.5 - 7.4 - - - -
EVAST - - 6.2 - - - - - - - 2.6 - - - -
KNOAN - - - - - - - 1.5 8.2 1.1 4.0 - - - -
KOSDE - - - 10.0 10.9 - - - - 11.0 - - - - 8.3
MOLSI - - - - - - - 8.0 1.0 3.0 12.9 6.8 - 2.7 0.8
NITMI - - - - 1.7 - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST 8.2 8.2 6.7 8.7 5.8 5.3 4.3 5.7 7.5 - 7.8 7.3 6.2 7.6 7.9
RENJU - - - 12.8 - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - 7.8 10.4 - 10.8 - - - - -
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL 14.7 14.7 13.4 14.4 - 13.6 6.9 - 13.2 13.9 - - 13.8 - -
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Sum 22.9 31.1 33.7 52.0 24.6 18.9 19.0 33.0 38.4 39.8 34.7 14.1 20.0 10.3 17.0
Jan 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR - 6.8 - - - - - - 5.6 - 6.6 - - - 6.8 -
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KNOAN - 2.7 - - - - - - 4.1 - - - - - - -
KOSDE - 3.1 - - - 0.3 - - - 11.9 - - - - 10.6 8.1
MOLSI - - 7.7 - 5.4 2.2 - - - - - - - - - -
NITMI - 5.0 - - 5.0 - - - - 5.0 - - - - - -
QUIST 8.1 8.2 - - 6.5 - - 7.8 - 8.1 8.4 - 6.4 - 7.5 -
RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10.2
- 5.5 - 2.6 4.0 - 6.8 - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - 3.2 - - 4.5 - - - - - - - - - - 8.9
YRJIL - - - 7.0 - - - - - 1.5 - - - 1.0 1.5 12.3
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Sum 8.1 34.5 7.7 9.6 25.4 2.5 6.8 7.8 9.7 26.5 15.0 - 6.4 1.0 26.4 39.5
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - 19 21 6 14 - - 3 15 - 10 - - - -
EVAST - - 39 - - - - - - - 9 - - - -
KNOAN - - - - - - - 4 39 1 9 - - - -
KOSDE - - - 42 36 - - - - 65 - - - - 28
MOLSI - - - - - - - 70 3 11 65 24 - 12 2
NITMI - - - - 2 - - - - - - - - - -
QUIST 15 22 20 27 17 12 11 7 8 - 26 19 20 11 18
RENJU - - - 98 - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - 10 26 - 50 - - - - -
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL 25 27 46 8 - 20 20 - 17 10 - - 12 - -
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Sum 40 68 126 181 69 32 41 110 82 137 119 43 32 23 48
Jan 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR - 6 - - - - - - 6 - 16 - - - 11 -
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KNOAN - 1 - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - -
KOSDE - 1 - - - 1 - - - 42 - - - - 23 16
MOLSI - - 26 - 9 6 - - - - - - - - - -
NITMI - 7 - - 2 - - - - 6 - - - - - -
QUIST 12 10 - - 7 - - 7 - 17 17 - 15 - 7 -
RENJU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 80
- 5 - 2 9 - 16 - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - 3 - - 2 - - - - - - - - - - 43
YRJIL - - - 15 - - - - - 1 - - - 1 1 28
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Sum 12 33 26 17 29 7 16 7 10 66 33 - 15 1 42 167
Sirko Molau, 2003/02/20