Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - December 2003
=======================================================
December had different faces with respect to the weather. Even though the
camera network has reached quite an impressive geographic extention, we
could obtain almost no observation in the first few days. After that, central
Europe faced a period of clear weather with an interruption just at the Geminid
maximum. During the Christmas vacations skies cleared again at several
observing sites, such that we got full coverage of meteor activity until the
end of the year.
With Javor Kac of Slovenia we could welcome another observer in the AKM
network last month, who regularly monitors the night sky with his Mintron
camera. Since both Stephen Evans and Ilkka Yrjola observed with two cameras
in December, we got data of 14 cameras operated by 9 observers, even though
Steve Quirk of Australia could not observe because of consistently poor
weather. We also did not get data from the Canaries so far.
December finalizes a year, which was again more successful for the AKM network
than the previous ones. Already in 2002 we got a remarkable coverage of 93%
with an overall of 340 observing nights. Last year, however, we observed in
355 nights (97%). In other words, there were only ten nights in which none of
the network members could observe, which can partly be explained by the unusual
pleasant summer in central Europe. The effective observing time increased by
more than a third from 6,800 to 9,300 hours (25.5 hours per day on average),
which is almost ten times as much as in the first year of the AKM network.
The overall number of meteors was almost the same as in 2002, though. Reasons
are, that many major shower became a victim of the weather and the Moon,
that the Leonid storms are history, and that most of the new cameras without
image intensifier are inferior to the old intensified cameras.
A detailled analysis of 2003 will follow. I would like to take the opportunity
and thank the observers for their commitment. I'm looking forward to further
prosper of the AKM network in 2004.
1. Observers
============
Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST Evans Moreton EMILY (1.8/28) 36 dg 4 mag 2 7.6 h 84
RF1 (1.2/12) 20 dg 4 mag 2 15.1 h 24
KACJA Kac Kostanjevec METKA (0.8/8) 42 dg 2 mag 11 68.1 h 111
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 7 59.4 h 276
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS (2.0/35) 40 dg 6 mag 19 120.6 h 573
AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 10 66.9 h 372
RENJU Rendtel Marquardt CARMEN (1.8/28) 28 dg 5 mag 15 89.1 h 423
SLAST Slavec Ljubljana KAYAK1 (1.8/28) 50 dg 4 mag 16 147.8 h 389
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 22 142.9 h 442
MINCAM3 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 6 46.1 h 155
UEBST Ueberschaer Aachen MIMO (0.95/25) 13 dg 4 mag 15 81.4 h 136
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski FINEXCAM (0.8/6) 38 dg 4 mag 14 88.2 h 359
NONAME (2.0/35) 38 dg 4 mag 1 2.0 h 11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 29 935.2 h 3355
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Dec 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - 6.7 0.9 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KACJA - - - - - - - 6.1 1.1 - - 9.9 - 2.4 -
KOSDE - - - - - 10.1 11.6 7.7 9.3 1.5 - - - - -
MOLSI 1.9 - - - - 3.7 9.3 10.9 9.9 11.2 3.0 8.9 - 2.1 0.8
0.8 - - - - 2.2 11.9 12.9 13.2 11.7 2.6 9.8 - 1.4 0.4
RENJU - - - - - 3.9 4.8 2.9 12.6 12.3 - 1.5 - 0.3 5.7
SLAST - 6.0 - - - - 12.5 12.5 3.5 - - 6.5 - 9.5 8.4
STRJO 6.6 9.0 - - - 10.1 13.4 13.4 13.4 6.3 1.0 1.5 0.7 5.6 -
- - - - - - - 13.0 13.5 6.8 - - - - -
UEBST - - - - - - 10.3 12.7 13.9 5.2 - - - - -
YRJIL - - - - 6.8 2.0 0.5 14.2 7.0 - - 8.4 1.3 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - 2.0 - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 9.3 15.0 - - 6.8 32.0 74.3106.3 97.4 55.0 6.6 48.5 8.7 22.2 15.3
Dec 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - 10.3 - - - - - - 4.8 - - -
KACJA - 6.1 5.2 6.1 8.7 - - - 5.0 7.8 9.7 - - - - -
KOSDE - 8.4 10.8 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI - - - - 3.2 3.2 3.2 13.3 7.5 5.3 13.3 7.7 2.2 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RENJU 1.7 - 13.4 - - - 9.5 12.4 - - 1.1 5.1 - 1.9 - -
SLAST 8.5 9.4 7.5 11.1 3.3 - - 12.5 12.5 12.0 12.1 - - - - -
STRJO - 10.4 13.6 - - 5.6 10.9 0.5 - - 3.3 3.5 2.9 3.1 1.6 6.5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - 4.1 4.6 4.1
UEBST - 10.5 14.5 - 0.2 0.2 - 3.3 - - 1.1 1.1 1.7 5.4 0.3 1.0
YRJIL 6.0 - - 0.8 11.0 - 10.1 - - - - - 4.8 - 11.5 3.8
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 16.2 44.8 65.0 18.0 26.4 19.3 33.7 42.0 25.0 25.1 40.6 17.4 16.4 14.5 18.0 15.4
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Dec 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - 72 12 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KACJA - - - - - - - 4 2 - - 36 - 16 -
KOSDE - - - - - 43 61 34 40 3 - - - - -
MOLSI 6 - - - - 17 58 37 55 57 2 46 - 19 12
2 - - - - 14 83 62 87 71 6 26 - 16 5
RENJU - - - - - 48 11 16 51 51 - 5 - 5 30
SLAST - 4 - - - - 23 20 3 - - 2 - 28 20
STRJO 17 38 - - - 36 42 43 47 15 6 5 5 26 -
- - - - - - - 55 56 12 - - - - -
UEBST - - - - - - 13 16 21 17 - - - - -
YRJIL - - - - 42 6 4 54 21 - - 102 8 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - 11 - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 25 42 - - 42 164 295 341 383 226 14 233 85 122 67
Dec 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - 21 - - - - - - 3 - - -
KACJA - 6 12 10 7 - - - 5 6 7 - - - - -
KOSDE - 63 32 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI - - - - 3 10 34 89 19 16 36 55 2 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RENJU 3 - 76 - - - 68 38 - - 2 13 - 6 - -
SLAST 44 43 19 45 2 - - 41 33 35 27 - - - - -
STRJO - 38 38 - - 12 22 2 - - 8 8 7 4 6 17
- - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 12 15
UEBST - 18 24 - 2 1 - 5 - - 2 1 4 9 1 2
YRJIL 17 - - 3 14 - 34 - - - - - 6 - 33 15
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 64 168 201 58 28 44 158 175 57 57 82 77 22 24 52 49
Sirko Molau, 2004/01/20