Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - October 2005
======================================================
Even though September was already the best month in the history of the camera
network (some observations were reported after the deadline), we could
significantly improve the result once more in October 2005. Let's have a look
at the plain figures first: 12 observers recorded with 16 cameras in more than
1,500 hours effective observing time (best result so far: 1,140 hours in
September 2005) almost 9,500 meteors (best "regular" result so far: 6,900
meteors in August 2003). That's even more than in November 2001 (8,900
meteors), when the data of the great Leonid storm in Asia an America added to
the ordinary network observations.
How could we achieve such phantastic numbers, even though the Orionids, the
biggest shower of October, became a victim of the full moon? First of all we
have to state the optimal weather in Germany. Both Joerg Strunk and Sirko Molau
reported personal records with 248 and 188 observing hours for one camera,
respectively. The weather was simply perfect, and if there had not been some
fog in south Germany at some times, we would have recorded even 10,000 meteors.
Secondly we must note, that Joerg Strunk operated under these optimal
conditions (long clear nights) up to four (!) cameras in parallel. So he alone
contributed 670 observing hours to the network - a result, that will hardly be
beaten in the near future. A third aspect are the optimizations for Mintron
cameras leading to more meteor records than in previous years. By now it has
become possible to record up to a hundred meteors per night with a
non-intensifed camera during the Taurids and Orionids. The best intensified
cameras with 50mm tube recorded as much as 300 meteors a night, as was shown
by AVIS2 and the Czech camera OND1. Last but not least, the number of observers
is further growing. In October, Ulrich Sperberg has resumed observation with
AKM1. The net outcome of all these factors is a results I would not have
imagined before.
Away from the plain figures, October still offered a number of highlights.
The first was the outburst of an unknown meteor shower in the evening of
October 5. Only a short time later Esko Lyytinen reported on IMO-News, that
the Finish observer Jarmo Moilanen recorded 19 meteors on October 5, 11 of
which originated from a sharp radiant at alpha=162 deg and delta=79 deg (not
far from lambda Dra). On average, the meteors were quite bright, otherwise
they would not have been recorded by a camera specialized on fireballs.
At first I checked the data of AVIS2, which recorded 121 meteors that night.
However, the unknown meteor shower was not prominent in these data. Things
got more interesting when I had a look at the data of Mincam1 later on: Here
the suspected radiant was clearly visible in the evening hours. The cameras of
the other active observers (Ilkka Yrjola, Detlef Koschny, Joerg Strunk) showed
this radiant also more or less clear. If all observations (without AVIS2) are
taken together, we obtain the same sharp radiant as Jarmo with a geocentic
velocity of 45 km/s.
The following graph shows the number of sporadic meteors, meteors of the unknown
shower (XXX) and other shower meteors (mainly Taurids) on October 5/6. It becomes
clear that maximum activity occured between 19 and 21 UT. Since the shower was
most obvious in non-intensified camera data, it must have a small r-value
consisting almost only of bright meteors.
Another highlight took place three days later in the European afternoon hours.
Observers from Asia and Eastern Europe reported a Draconid ourburst with
equivalent zenithal hourly rates up to 30 consisting mainly of faint meteors.
Unfortunalety, the outburst was over in the European evening hours such that
in the following night only a handful of Draconids were observed. Thanks to
the early start of observation and it's high sensitivity, only the image-
intensified camera in Ondrejov recorded a noticable number of Draconids
belonging to the descending activity branch.
Last but not least, a number of observers noticed an increased fireball
activity in the second half of October. Whether it was just "ordinary"
Taurid activity, which was covered especially well thanks to the good weather,
or whether the activity was indeed extraordinary high as in a number of
previous years, has to be further analysed. Our cameras are not well suited
for this type of observations, as they are tuned for faint meteors and
"dazzled" by fireballs.
1. Observers
============
Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors
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BENOR Benitez-S. Las Palmas TIMES5 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 11 39.8 h 79
EVAST Evans Moreton RF1 (1.2/12) 20 dg 4 mag 7 51.8 h 192
KACJA Kac Kostanjevec METKA (0.8/8) 42 dg 2 mag 18 121.1 h 281
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25) 25 dg 6 mag 2 19.0 h 62
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS2 (1.4/50) 60 dg 6 mag 26 165.9 h 3288
MINCAM1 (0.8/6) 50 dg 3 mag 25 188.2 h 895
SLAST Slavec Ljubljana KAYAK1 (1.8/28) 50 dg 4 mag 10 53.4 h 126
SPEUL Sperberg Salzwedel AKM1 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 3 31.8 h 122
STOEN Stomeo Scorze MIN38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 3 6.4 h 27
STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 50 dg 6 mag 3 28.1 h 686
STRJO Strunk Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 30 248.0 h 892
MINCAM3 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 16 147.6 h 781
VK1 (0.75/50) 20 dg 8 mag 15 141.3 h 1103
MINCAM4 (1.4/2) 180 dg 0 mag 15 135.7 h 103
UEBST Ueberschaer Aachen MIMO 0.95/25) 13 dg 4 mag 2 14.6 h 76
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski FINEXCAM (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 19 118.8 h 757
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Sum 31 1511.9 h 9470
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Oct 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1.6 2.3
EVAST 6.0 - - 7.0 - - - 7.9 - - - - - - 5.4
KACJA 4.0 - - - - 2.1 2.1 - 2.8 10.9 - - 11.0 5.2 8.4
KOSDE - - - - 9.5 9.5 - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI - - - 1.4 7.9 7.7 9.3 0.8 3.5 8.5 8.2 8.9 8.1 3.4 10.9
- - - 1.6 11.1 10.5 11.2 1.8 3.9 11.4 11.5 11.5 11.6 8.1 8.7
SLAST - - - - - - - - 6.2 1.7 - 1.3 7.9 2.4 4.7
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STOEN - - - - - - - - - 2.3 1.5 - - - -
STORO - - - - - 7.1 10.5 10.5 - - - - - - -
STRJO 10.1 10.2 7.8 2.2 5.4 10.5 10.5 7.5 10.6 10.6 10.6 10.7 11.0 7.5 11.1
- - - - - - - - - - 10.8 10.9 9.8 5.7 9.4
- - - - - - - - - 9.6 10.6 10.7 6.5 8.6 11.0
- - - - - - - - - 10.8 10.8 10.9 10.9 11.0 11.1
UEBST - - - - - - - - - - - 6.8 7.8 - -
YRJIL - - 4.7 7.0 5.2 9.9 0.9 7.4 6.9 5.6 10.4 8.6 6.0 6.3 0.4
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Sum 20.1 10.2 12.5 19.2 39.1 57.3 44.5 35.9 33.9 71.4 74.4 80.3 90.6 59.8 83.4
Oct 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR - 3.6 3.6 6.3 1.3 6.5 4.4 4.5 4.0 1.7 - - - - - -
EVAST - - - - - - 8.0 - - 11.0 - - - - - 6.5
KACJA 4.6 - 9.9 - - 7.7 11.1 3.3 7.1 7.7 11.4 11.1 - 1.1 - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI 9.3 1.6 7.0 4.7 4.8 3.1 - 6.1 6.0 0.4 7.5 4.6 - 9.2 11.6 11.4
11.8 11.8 11.9 6.4 6.4 2.9 0.5 7.0 6.1 - 11.5 6.9 - - 1.3 0.8
SLAST - - 7.1 - - - - - - 5.5 10.5 6.1 - - - -
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9.5 11.5 10.8
STOEN - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2.6 - -
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO 11.1 11.2 11.2 6.4 4.7 2.9 2.0 0.7 - 7.3 6.7 10.8 11.9 11.9 11.9 1.0
11.2 10.2 11.3 9.7 3.5 - - - - - 6.5 11.8 11.9 11.9 12.0 1.0
11.0 11.0 9.8 - - - - - - - 5.1 11.4 11.4 11.1 11.5 2.0
11.1 11.2 11.2 - - - - - - - - - 11.9 11.9 11.9 1.0
UEBST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL - - 10.1 - - - - - 8.2 2.0 - 5.4 5.7 8.1 - -
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Sum 70.1 60.6 93.1 33.5 20.7 23.1 26.0 21.6 31.4 35.6 59.2 68.1 52.8 77.3 71.7 34.5
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Oct 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
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BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 2
EVAST 23 - - 22 - - - 21 - - - - - - 15
KACJA 2 - - - - 5 8 - 7 10 - - 16 4 10
KOSDE - - - - 30 32 - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI - - - 14 121 174 177 4 32 227 219 224 150 26 112
- - - 1 27 30 40 1 9 51 54 42 34 16 46
SLAST - - - - - - - - 12 4 - 3 18 4 4
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STOEN - - - - - - - - - 13 4 - - - -
STORO - - - - - 145 276 265 - - - - - - -
STRJO 32 25 21 7 17 29 32 23 21 31 32 32 25 19 34
- - - - - - - - - - 49 49 38 18 38
- - - - - - - - - 50 109 90 56 26 58
- - - - - - - - - 3 3 11 6 3 8
UEBST - - - - - - - - - - - 46 30 - -
YRJIL - - 31 39 24 49 5 47 44 33 28 13 5 62 1
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Sum 57 25 52 83 219 464 538 361 125 422 498 510 378 181 328
Oct 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
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BENOR - 3 5 14 4 20 11 4 9 4 - - - - - -
EVAST - - - - - - 45 - - 51 - - - - - 15
KACJA 29 - 24 - - 22 28 2 15 29 38 31 - 1 - -
KOSDE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MOLSI 85 15 96 50 57 32 - 164 172 1 190 72 - 323 307 244
59 82 91 56 38 15 2 65 63 - 58 11 - - 2 2
SLAST - - 11 - - - - - - 22 33 15 - - - -
SPEUL - - - - - - - - - - - - - 52 57 13
STOEN - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 - -
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO 52 41 52 35 22 31 5 3 - 33 24 52 45 57 57 3
60 51 64 59 13 - - - - - 32 92 59 70 85 4
58 81 54 - - - - - - - 54 135 101 109 110 12
9 14 14 - - - - - - - - - 4 16 10 2
UEBST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YRJIL - - 105 - - - - - 117 1 - 52 64 37 - -
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Sum 352 287 516 214 134 120 91 238 376 141 429 460 273 675 628 295
Sirko Molau, 2005/11/14