Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - April 2003
====================================================
The unusually comfortable weather persisted also in April. The mix of sunshine
and rainshowers April is well-known for was mostly absent. At many
sites, there were sometimes temperatures like in summer and there was no rain
for several weeks. Thus, some AKM observers (Joerg Strunk and me) managed to
obtain long observing series again. Other observers did not send in their
data (Detlef Koschny is currently reconstructing his camera) or were abroad
for a longer time and could observe in only a few nights (Juergen Rendtel
and Ulrich Sperberg). On the other hand, we received a few observations from
Ondrejov again, so that in the end all April nights could be covered.
Based on the statistics of the AKM network I checked, whether my
subjective feeling is right, that there are unusually many clear nights this
year. There are complete observing series from January to April between
2000 and 2003 by Juergen Rendtel an me:
Jan-Apr MOLSI RENJU
-----------------------------------------------------
2000 34 nights / 201 hours 37 nights / 200 hours
2001 39 nights / 188 hours 34 nights / 216 hours
2002 43 nights / 296 hours 45 nights / 302 hours
2003 61 nights / 437 hours 49 nights / 371 hours
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It can be seen that I could indeed collect about 50% more observing
nights than in previous years so far. In Juergens data the increase is not
that dramatic, but also his 2003 statistics are clearly better than in
previous years.
Between the end of April and mid-May I tested two 1/2" c-mount lenses in
connection with my Mintron camera: the 3.8mm and the 6mm objective lens from
Computar. Both lenses are of interest to meteor observers, because they are
very fast (f/0.8) and yield a large field of view. I was curious which
of these two lenses would be better suited for meteor observation. The
results will be presented in another contribution shortly.
Last but not least, there were as always a number of hard-working observers
outside Germany. Stephen Evans and Orlando Benitez-Sanchez obtained
only a few observing nights, but Ilkka Yrjola recorded another 11 observing
nights before his summer break up there in the North. So far he collected
remarkable 59 nights / 439 hours in 2003, which is almost as much as our
Australian record observer Steve Quirk (69 nights / 554 hours).
1. Observers
============
Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors
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BENOT Benitez-S. Maspalomas TIMES4 (1.4/50) 20 dg 4 mag 3 21.9 h 23
EVAST Evans Moreton EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 5 mag 1 5.0 h 21
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 5 mag 19 108.4 h 306
MINCAM1 (0.8/6) 75 dg 3 mag 3 18.4 h 26
NITMI Nitschke Dresden VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 5 24.9 h 30
QUIST Quirk Mudgee SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg 5 mag 18 162.5 h 345
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 12 71.4 h 236
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 7 50.5 h 150
STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 22 dg 8 mag 5 28.3 h 89
STRJO Strunk Leopondshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 18 108.8 h 142
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski NONAME (2.0/35) 38 dg 6 mag 11 61.8 h 104
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Sum 30 651.9 h 1463
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
April 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR 7.7 - 7.8 - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI - - - 3.6 - 1.9 4.7 - - - 5.6 - 8.2 7.7 8.1
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NITMI - - - - - - - - - - - - 5.0 - -
QUIST - - - - 9.2 8.6 10.0 6.7 7.8 - - 8.5 - 10.1 8.6
RENJU - - 8.5 - 6.5 4.7 2.1 7.9 - 7.5 2.7 7.2 6.2 6.4 -
SPEUL - - 6.6 - 7.8 7.0 7.7 8.0 - 6.7 - - - - -
STORO - - - - - 4.0 - 6.4 - - - - - - -
STRJO - - - - - 8.4 8.5 8.4 0.5 4.1 2.5 5.1 8.1 8.0 7.9
YRJIL 7.4 7.4 - - - 7.3 - - - - 6.3 - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 15.1 7.4 22.9 3.6 23.5 41.9 33.0 37.4 8.3 18.3 17.1 20.8 27.5 32.2 24.6
April 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - 6.4 - - - - -
EVAST - - - - - - 5.0 - - - - - - - -
MOLSI 8.1 8.1 1.5 7.7 7.9 3.6 7.3 4.6 7.5 2.1 - 4.6 - 5.6 -
- - - - - - - - 7.0 6.6 - 4.8 - - -
NITMI - 5.0 - - 4.9 - - - 5.0 - - - - 5.0 -
QUIST 9.5 - 10.1 8.0 8.9 10.1 - - 10.0 10.0 - - 10.4 8.0 8.0
RENJU 6.4 - - - 5.3 - - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - 6.7 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STORO - - - - - 7.2 7.2 3.5 - - - - - - -
STRJO 7.9 7.8 - - 7.5 5.0 7.4 7.3 - - - - - 3.6 0.8
YRJIL - - - 5.6 3.5 5.0 5.2 - 4.9 4.8 4.4 - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 31.9 27.6 11.6 21.3 38.0 30.9 32.1 15.4 34.4 29.9 4.4 9.4 10.4 22.2 8.8
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
April 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR 10 - 3 - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI - - - 18 - 12 20 - - - 15 - 15 17 17
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NITMI - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 - -
QUIST - - - - 12 13 23 16 23 - - 13 - 27 9
RENJU - - 32 - 43 27 13 31 - 19 7 13 12 11 -
SPEUL - - 33 - 27 25 20 23 - 8 - - - - -
STORO - - - - - 3 - 13 - - - - - - -
STRJO - - - - - 13 14 14 2 2 4 3 12 7 11
YRJIL 12 3 - - - 12 - - - - 8 - - - -
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Sum 22 3 68 18 82 105 90 97 25 29 34 29 44 62 37
April 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR - - - - - - - - - 10 - - - - -
EVAST - - - - - - 21 - - - - - - - -
MOLSI 13 9 5 22 27 10 39 18 24 1 - 15 - 9 -
- - - - - - - - 9 13 - 4 - - -
NITMI - 4 - - 6 - - - 5 - - - - 10 -
QUIST 16 - 20 3 11 26 - - 21 32 - - 17 33 30
RENJU 7 - - - 21 - - - - - - - - - -
SPEUL - 14 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STORO - - - - - 23 33 17 - - - - - - -
STRJO 9 9 - - 9 5 10 13 - - - - - 3 2
YRJIL - - - 7 9 3 13 - 14 13 10 - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 45 36 25 32 83 67 116 48 73 69 10 19 17 55 32
Sirko Molau, 2003/05/21