Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - March 2005
====================================================
March was a nice example for how different the observing conditions in Europe
may be. As in previous years, Ilkka Yrjola of Finland experienced his annual
peak result with an amazing 25 observing nights. On the other hand, Stephen
Evans in England complained about poor weather with only three clear nights,
and in the Netherlands the situation wasn't any better. A few hundred
kilometers south east (near Bielefeld / Germany) the weather improved clearly,
and another few hundred kilometers south east it was better than usual in the
north of Munich. For the Slovenian observers, March did not differ much from
other years.
On March 17, exactly 6 years and 6 days after the start, we could celebrate
a small anniversary: Sirko Molau obtained his 1000th observation within the
video meteor network! Somewhat unlucky was Joerg Strunk, though. He went on
holiday in late February and operated his camera autonomously as always.
When he checked the resuls two weeks later he realized, that the computer
had hung up in the very first observing night... What do we learn from this:
An autonomous video system should not only activate and deactivate the camera
and the lens cap by a timer, but also the computer.
Yet another puzzle seems to be solved: As I reported at the annual AKM meeting
we observed large differences in meteor detection efficiencies between otherwise
identical cameras (Mintron 12V1-Ex with Computar 6mm f/0.8 lens) and comparable
observing sites. Mincam2 is always on top, Mincam1 has usually fewer meteors
and Mimo records in comparison with these "almost nothing". An analysis
revealed that the contrast during the digitization could be the reason:
Whereas it is always set to the upper limit for Mincam2 (255), it's lower for
Mincam1 (160) and the default value for Mimo (128). Even though the image is
much noisier at extreme contrast values, it still seems to improve the limiting
magnitude and thereby the detection efficiency significantly. April will show
whether the differences between the cameras can be explained this way.
1. Observers
============
Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors
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BENOR Benitez-S. Las Palmas TIMES5 (0.8/6) 50 dg 3 mag 10 72.3 h 22
EVAST Evans Moreton RF1 (1.2/12) 20 dg 4 mag 3 27.0 h 31
KACJA Kac Kostanjevec METKA (0.8/8) 42 dg 2 mag 12 83.9 h 80
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 2 9.1 h 16
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS2 (1.4/50) 60 dg 6 mag 14 82.0 h 708
MINCAM1 (0.8/6) 50 dg 3 mag 19 116.3 h 99
SLAST Slavec Ljubljana KAYAK1 (1.8/28) 50 dg 4 mag 13 67.7 h 88
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 12 37.2 h 60
MINCAM3 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 9 49.9 h 71
UEBST Ueberschaer Aachen MIMO (0.8/6) 50 dg 3 mag 5 21.8 h 19
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski FINEXCAM (0.8/6) 50 dg 3 mag 25 191.9 h 253
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Sum 31 758.1 h 1447
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Mar 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - 6.0 - - 9.0 - - - - - 7.0
EVAST - - - - - 9.6 - - - - - 8.9 - - -
KACJA - - - - 9.6 8.2 - 6.1 - 8.2 - - 9.3 8.2 8.2
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - 2.2 - - - - -
MOLSI 5.2 7.0 6.5 2.5 - 5.0 - - - 4.0 - 2.9 9.2 - 7.2
8.4 11.4 4.4 1.3 - 6.2 - - - 8.9 - 6.8 10.8 2.7 10.7
SLAST 2.2 7.5 - - 0.6 5.6 - 9.0 - - - - 9.3 6.5 4.1
STRJO - - - - - - - - 6.0 - - - 2.3 0.6 0.5
- - - - - 1.3 - - 8.9 3.4 - - - - -
UEBST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL 10.3 9.6 10.3 - 7.6 - 2.4 5.6 10.0 9.9 7.7 9.2 9.2 8.1 8.7
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Sum 26.1 35.5 21.2 3.8 17.8 41.9 2.4 20.7 33.9 36.6 7.7 27.8 50.1 26.1 46.4
Mar 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR 1.5 - - - 6.4 6.3 11.0 - 11.0 8.2 5.9 - - - - -
EVAST - - 8.5 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KACJA 6.1 - 9.7 1.3 - - - - - - 3.9 - 5.1 - - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6.9
MOLSI 7.3 4.7 - - 4.6 8.3 - - - - - - - - - 7.6
10.6 3.5 - - 5.3 10.3 - - - - 2.1 0.9 0.4 1.8 - 9.8
SLAST 5.1 2.7 6.7 - - 6.4 - - - - - - - - - 2.0
STRJO 1.0 - - - 3.8 4.8 - 5.9 - 1.0 2.7 - - - 1.5 7.1
1.3 - - - 9.5 6.5 - 2.4 - - - - - - 8.0 8.6
UEBST - 5.8 - - 5.6 0.9 2.5 - - - - - - - - 7.0
YRJIL 8.5 - 7.8 7.8 5.7 8.8 5.6 - 6.6 - 4.4 - 7.4 5.2 7.8 7.7
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Sum 41.4 16.7 32.7 9.1 40.9 52.3 19.1 8.3 17.6 9.2 19.0 0.9 12.9 7.0 17.3 56.7
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Mar 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - 1 - - 1 - - - - - 2
EVAST - - - - - 12 - - - - - 10 - - -
KACJA - - - - 9 4 - 5 - 8 - - 19 6 7
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - 5 - - - - -
MOLSI 43 59 33 7 - 35 - - - 46 - 27 68 - 82
8 10 4 1 - 6 - - - 5 - 3 6 2 8
SLAST 2 13 - - 1 9 - 14 - - - - 9 4 10
STRJO - - - - - - - - 9 - - - 7 2 1
- - - - - 3 - - 15 4 - - - - -
UEBST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL 6 11 13 - 4 - 3 12 18 9 2 16 12 4 12
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Sum 59 93 50 8 14 70 3 31 43 77 2 56 121 18 122
Mar 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR 1 - - - 4 4 1 - 3 4 1 - - - - -
EVAST - - 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KACJA 3 - 7 1 - - - - - - 9 - 2 - - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11
MOLSI 73 43 - - 44 64 - - - - - - - - - 84
14 2 - - 8 9 - - - - 3 1 1 2 - 6
SLAST 8 1 7 - - 7 - - - - - - - - - 3
STRJO 1 - - - 7 9 - 9 - 1 - - - - 3 11
2 - - - 13 6 - 3 - - - - - - 9 16
UEBST - 4 - - 5 1 2 - - - - - - - - 7
YRJIL 12 - 9 12 9 22 16 - 8 - 6 - 7 6 9 15
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Sum 114 50 32 13 90 122 19 12 11 5 19 1 10 8 21 153
Sirko Molau, 2005/04/18