Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - February 2003
=======================================================
Strange: In January I predicted that the number of "Australian meteors" will
increase in the months to come, but I was wrong. Whereas the Australian
summer was unusually cloudy, there was exceptionally good weather in
central Europe in the second half of Febuary. Three observers reported
more nights than Steve Quirk in Australia! In the Bavarian village of
Seysdorf I could observe in every night from February 16 to 28. There would
have been two more in addition to the 17 observing nights this month if
I had not spend a weekend out of town. Other German observers also enjoyed
many cloudfree nights, but they sufferend from occasional fog.
The increase of meteor numbers from the middle to the end of February by
about a factor of two is well visible in the data set of AVIS. The reason
is the waning moon, which disturbed the observation less and less towards
the end of the month. In total, 11 observers reported more than 800 hours of
observing time in Februry 2003, which ranks among the five best months in the
history of the AKM network. We finished the fourth year of network operation
which started in March 1999.
Almost 2000 meteors could be recorded, which is a huge number relative to the
low meteor activity at this time of year. Together with the data from previous
years it should now be possible to draw an accurate picture from ecliptical
activity at the beginning of the year.
In Finland, Ilkka Yrjola also obtained more than 10 observing nights, but
the observers in England and on the Canaries were less successful. That does
not change the good overall picture of February 2003, though.
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 4 28.1 h 32
EVAST Evans Moreton EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 1 3.0 h 6
KNOAN Knoefel Essen VIDEOMET (0.75/50) 20 dg 7 mag 13 91.9 h 139
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 15 125.8 h 265
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 17 153.6 h 464
NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 5 25.1 h 50
QUIST Quirk Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg 5 mag 11 86.0 h 169
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 10 99.6 h 437
CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 2 12.1 h 18
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 5 49.0 h 189
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2(0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 9 72.4 h 102
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski NONAME (2.0/35) 38 dg 6 mag 11 89.0 h 96
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Sum 27 835.6 h 1967
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Feb 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - 7.2 - - - - 6.6 - - - - -
EVAST 3.0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KNOAN - - - - - - - - 8.2 8.1 6.4 4.0 5.5 8.2 -
KOSDE - - - - 7.2 - - - - 4.6 - - 9.8 0.9 -
MOLSI 10.3 1.6 - - - - - - 10.9 - - 9.3 - - -
NITMI - - - - - - - 5.0 5.0 - - - - - -
QUIST - - 8.3 8.6 7.3 8.3 - - - - 7.6 8.2 - 7.5 -
RENJU - - - - - - - 11.8 11.2 - 10.3 9.0 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - 8.0 - -
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL - - 4.2 2.8 - - - - - - - - - 12.4 11.0
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Sum 13.3 1.6 12.5 11.4 21.7 8.3 - 16.8 35.3 19.3 24.3 30.5 23.3 29.0 11.0
Feb 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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BENOR - 7.8 - - - - - - - - 6.5 - -
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KNOAN - - 6.9 6.2 7.1 6.5 7.0 9.7 8.1 - - - -
KOSDE 10.0 11.2 10.9 10.0 10.9 11.2 10.4 5.4 10.2 10.3 2.8 - -
MOLSI 0.4 10.6 11.4 11.0 6.5 9.6 11.0 10.3 11.2 11.2 10.0 11.1 7.2
NITMI - - - - - 5.1 - 5.0 5.0 - - - -
QUIST - - - - - - - - 7.9 6.4 8.7 7.2 -
RENJU - - - - - - 9.7 9.8 11.4 10.1 10.6 5.7 -
- 4.1 - - - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - - - - - - 9.5 9.3 11.0 - 9.2 10.0 -
STRJO - - - 0.9 - 11.4 11.4 11.1 11.3 11.3 11.3 2.7 1.0
YRJIL - 8.5 8.5 11.7 9.6 11.5 - 5.0 - 3.8 - - -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 10.4 42.2 37.7 39.8 34.1 55.3 59.0 65.6 76.1 53.1 59.1 36.7 8.2
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Feb 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - 15 - - - - 11 - - - - -
EVAST 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KNOAN - - - - - - - - 11 17 5 6 3 1 -
KOSDE - - - - 14 - - - - 2 - - 17 1 -
MOLSI 32 2 - - - - - - 28 - - 32 - - -
NITMI - - - - - - - 13 11 - - - - - -
QUIST - - 20 11 12 14 - - - - 13 13 - 13 -
RENJU - - - - - - - 50 40 - 32 6 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - 15 - -
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL - - 3 2 - - - - - - - - - 12 12
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Sum 38 2 23 13 41 14 - 63 90 30 50 57 35 27 12
Feb 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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BENOR - 5 - - - - - - - - 1 - -
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KNOAN - - 8 12 10 11 14 14 27 - - - -
KOSDE 23 28 26 20 20 23 31 6 15 35 4 - -
MOLSI 1 14 25 27 13 21 40 43 47 57 41 28 13
NITMI - - - - - 3 - 8 15 - - - -
QUIST - - - - - - - - 17 26 22 8 -
RENJU - - - - - - 51 42 68 77 57 14 -
- 3 - - - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - - - - - - 38 59 52 - 37 3 -
STRJO - - - 3 - 19 12 16 9 24 12 6 1
YRJIL - 6 7 8 24 13 - 6 - 3 - - -
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Sum 24 56 66 70 67 90 186 194 250 222 174 59 14
Sirko Molau, 2003/03/15