Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - December 2008 ======================================================= A very successful year 2008 petered out with a meager December. In the first half of the month, there was reasonable weather at hardly any site, such that the Geminids did not only became a victim of the Moon, but also of the clouds. Only western Germany enjoyed clear skies in the maximum nights. In the second half of December, the weather slowly improved. So there were already a few more observers who catched the Ursid maximum. From Christmas on the weather became close to perfect at many sites, so that the statistics could be improved a bit towards the end. Finally there were at least three cameras who managed to get more than 20 observing nights. The monthly total for December was nearly 2,300 hours effective observing time and more than 10,000 meteors. Last month, we could once more welcome a new observer in the camera network, whom I was especially happy about. With Klaas Jobse, a real "veteran" of video meteor observation found his way to us. Five year before I constructed my first meteor camera, Klaas was already recording meteors by video in the Netherlands with BETSY1. His current system BETSY2 utilizes the same powerful image intensifier as AVIS2 and OND1. So it comes as no surprise, that Klaas managed to get nearly a thousand video meteors from scratch using the perfect weather at the end of 2008. Let's now have a look at the biggest showers of December. As mentioned before, the Geminids could hardly be observed in 2008. In the IMO Video Meteor Database, however, they are the third strongest shower with more than 12,000 members. According to the latest edition of the IMO handbook for meteor observers, they are active between December 7 and 17, reaching their maximum at December 13. In the current video data analysis, the shower was clearly detected between December 5 and 18. The position of the Geminid radiant agrees well with the value from literature (figure 1), only the drift direction differs slightly. The calculated velocity of 35 km/s is identical to the value given in the handbook. Figure 1: Radiant position of the Geminids from data of the IMO Video Meteor Database The long-term activity profile of the Geminids (figure 2) has an asymmetric shape with a moderate ascent until the maximum on December 13/14, followed by a steep descent. Three days after the maximum the shower is hardly detectable anymore. Figure 2: Long-term activity profile of the Geminids A few days before Christmas is the time of the Ursids. This year, we had at least in Italy and Portugal clear skies, such that the maximum on December 21/22 could be covered by seven cameras. The activity profile resulting from 164 Ursids and 200 sporadics is given in figure 3. The Ursid counts were determined in one hour intervals, corrected by the radiant altitude, and averaged over all cameras. For comparison, the hourly sporadic rate is given. The activity of the Ursids was rising up to the maximum between 2 and 3 UT on December 22, thereafter it was declining again. As expected, the sporadic activity increased steadily towards the morning. Figure 3: Corrected hourly Ursid rates and sporadic counts on December 21/22, 2008 Figure 4 gives a comparison of the Ursids in 2008 and the previous two years, whereby the activity was plotted against the solar longitude. It is obvious that the activity level in 2008 was lower than in the two years before. Figure 4: Ursid activity in 2006-2008 plotted against the solar longitude What do we learn from the video meteor database about the Ursids? According to the IMO handbook, they are active between December 17 to 26. This agrees well with the activity interval December 16 to 25 derived from 750 video Ursids. Due to the lower meteor number, the radiant drift (figure 5) is not as well determined as for major showers. Still, the radiant is on average close to the expected position, and also the determined velocity of 32 km/s agrees well with the value from the IMO handbook (33 km/s). Figure 5: Radiant position of the Ursids from data of the IMO Video Meteor Datenbase The long-term activity profile (figure 6) reveals, that the Ursids are reasonably active in only a very short interval, which confirms the observation from the last two years. The two degrees in solar longitude is an upper limit, because the maximum is smeared out when sliding intervals of two degrees length are used. Figure 6: Long-term activity profile of the Ursids Let finally have a look at the Coma-Berenicids, which are active in December, too. The current edition of the IMO handbook points to a significant discrepancy between the radiant position published earlier and the results from a first video data analysis in 2006. Could that result be confirmed by the current analysis based on 2,300 shower meteors? On the first glimpse, the observed radiant position seems to match well to the values from the old handbook (figure 7). A closer inspection, however, reveals an offset of about 17 days. On January 6, for example, the radiant is observed at a position given for December 20 according to the old ephemeris. In other words, the radiant is off by 15 degrees (or one hour) in the north western direction. The activity interval, on the other hand, agrees well with the value from literature. The handbook lists an interval of December 12 till January 23 (with a maximum near December 20), whereas the radiant was well observed between December 9 and January 27 in the video data. Also the calculated velocity (64 km/s) is in good agreement with the handbook (65 km/s). Figure 7: Radiant position of the Coma Berenicids from data of the IMO Video Meteor Database Figure 8 shows the activity profile derived from the video data. The maximum on December 20 is confirmed, whereby the profile is less pronounced than that of other showers. The peak ZHR of five given in the IMO handbook does not seem to be reached. For comparison, the profile derived from visual data (based on the old radiant position) is given with blue dots. Up to a solar longitude of 275 degrees, both profiles agree well. Thereafter there are larger discrepancies. Figure 8: Long-term activity profile of the Coma Berenicids. The blue dots represent the profile derived from visual data. Let's now have an overview of the record year 2008, in which 24 observers (2007: 22) from 10 countries (2007: 9) contributed to the camera network with overall 37 camera systems (2007: 30). Most of the stations of the IMO network are still located along a north south axis in Central Europe (Germany, Slovenia, Italy), but the situation improves also in other regions. Due to the extention of the camera network, we could collect more data than ever. Thanks to the leap year, we got an unbeaten 366 (2007: 364) observing nights, in which almost 23,000 observing hours (2007: 17,000) could be collected. The average number of meteors per hour (4.0) decreased once more (2007: 4.4). One reason is, that most cameras joining the network are unintensified. In addition, most major showers of 2008 became a victim of the weather or the Moon. Still, we could record more than 92,000 meteors (2007: 75,000). For the first time, we managed to get more than a thousand observing hours each month. In February and August till December, it was even more than two-thousand hours. The best result of all was achieved in October 2008 with 2,750 hours of effective observing time and more than 17,000 meteors. The following table gives the details for each month. ==================================================== Month # Obs. Eff. Obs. # Meteors Meteors/ Nights Time [h] Hour ==================================================== January 31 1293.9 4544 3.5 February 29 2419.7 6200 2.6 March 31 1573.0 3155 2.0 April 30 1470.6 3060 2.1 May 31 1607.1 3645 2.3 June 30 1228.2 2821 2.3 July 31 1605.0 8375 5.2 August 31 2262.5 14406 6.4 September 30 2061.2 9029 4.4 October 31 2761.1 17036 6.2 November 30 2401.8 9834 4.1 December 31 2285.4 10217 4.0 ==================================================== Overall 366 22969.5 92322 4.0 ==================================================== Eight observers (2007: 6) managed to get more than 200 observing nights in 2008. With 336 nights, Sirko Molau was again on top of the list, improving his own record from 2007 by 12 nights. Javor Kac, Joerg Strunk, Carl Hergenrother and Bernd Brinkmann all got about 250 nights. Note that Carl joined the network only in March. Furthermore, all peak performers beside Carl and Bernd operated more than one camera. The results for each observer are given in the next table, whereby the number of cameras and stations refers to the main time of year. ================================================================================ Observer Country # Obs. Eff. Obs. # Meteors Meteors/ Cameras Nights Time [h] Hour (Stations) ================================================================================ Sirko Molau Germany 336 4108.5 20886 5.1 4 (2) Javor Kac Slovenia 262 2863.1 10092 3.5 3 (3) Joerg Strunk Germany 248 1840.6 7133 3.9 4 (2) Carl Hergenrother USA 247 1905.1 4143 2.2 1 (1) Bernd Brinkmann Germany 242 1003.9 3623 3.6 1 (1) Flavio Castellani Italy 229 1868.1 4713 2.5 2 (1) Rui Goncalves Portugal 204 1462.8 6659 4.6 1 (1) Robert Lunsford USA 204 1391.8 8898 6.4 1 (1) Wolfgang Hinz Germany 172 1043.8 3951 3.8 1 (1) Stane Slavec Slovenia 145 639.9 1284 2.0 1 (1) Enrico Stomeo Italy 142 922.0 3038 3.3 1 (1) Ilkka Yrjola Finland 131 690.5 2005 2.9 1 (1) David Przewozny Germany 125 728.1 2879 4.0 1 (1) Stefano Crivello Italy 87 594.4 3220 5.4 1 (1) Detlef Koschny Netherl. 71 399.6 699 1.7 1 (1) Mihaela Triglav Slovenia 55 216.4 495 2.3 1 (1) Biondani Roberto Italy 54 244.2 497 2.0 1 (1) Orlando Benitez-S. Spain 51 199.5 443 2.2 1 (1) Maurizio Eltri Italy 41 297.7 1614 5.4 1 (1) Paolo Ochner Italy 37 254.0 768 3.0 1 (1) Milos Weber Czech Rep. 23 43.6 950 21.8 1 (1) Rosta Stork Czech Rep. 17 124.2 3221 25.9 2 (2) Klaas Jobse Netherl. 7 86.4 978 11.3 1 (1) Stephen Evans UK 7 41.3 133 3.2 1 (1) ================================================================================ Let's have a look at the ten most successful video systems. REMO1 in Ketzuer and MINCAM1 in Seysdorf were again on top. They are followed by SALSA in Tucson, which will probably take over the lead in 2009. The camera with the highest output (AVIS2: 9790 meteors) and "only" 153 nights did not make it to the TOP-10. ================================================================================ Camera Observing Observer # Obs. Eff. Obs. # Meteors Meteors/ Site Nights Time [h] Hour ================================================================================ REMO1 Ketzuer (D) Sirko Molau 271 1251.2 4329 3.5 MINCAM1 Seysdorf (D) Sirko Molau 253 1119.1 3279 2.9 SALSA Tucson (US) Carl Hergenr. 247 1905.1 4143 2.2 HERMINE Herne (D) Bernd Brinkmann 242 1003.9 3623 3.6 MINCAM2 Herford (D) Joerg Strunk 231 679.8 2170 3.2 ORION1 Ljubljana (SL) Javor Kac 220 983.0 2539 2.6 REMO2 Ketzuer (D) Sirko Molau 209 875.4 3488 4.0 BOCAM Ch. Vista (US) Bob Lunsford 204 1391.8 8898 6.4 TEMPLAR1 Tomar (PT) Rui Goncalves 204 1462.8 6659 4.6 METKA Konstanj. (SL) Javor Kac 171 1138.1 3094 2.7 ================================================================================ All observations of 2008 are check for consistency and stored in the video meteor database. In a few days time, the data will be made available is PosDat format at www.imonet.org for free download. At this point, I would like to thank all participants in the IMO network for the fine cooperation in 2008. I wish all of us much success in the new year. 1. Observers ============ Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR Benitez-S. Las-Palmas TIMES5 (0.95/50) 10 dg 3 mag 9 31.2 h 50 BRIBE Brinkmann Herne HERMINE (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 12 106.7 h 543 CASFL Castellani Monte Baldo BMH1 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 15 140.8 h 403 BMH2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 17 141.5 h 397 CRIST Crivello Valbrevenna STG38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 1 11.0 h 33 Genova C3P8 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 19 135.9 h 871 ELTMA Eltri Venezia MET38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 6 45.1 h 174 GONRU Goncalves Tomar TEMPLAR1 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 18 145.3 h 742 TEMPLAR2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 5 26.2 h 80 HERCA Hergenroth. Tucson SALSA (1.2/4) 80 dg 3 mag 25 174.1 h 444 HINWO Hinz Brannenburg AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 13 76.6 h 373 JOBKL Jobse Oostkapelle BETSY2 (1.2/85) 25 dg 7 mag 7 86.4 h 978 KACJA Kac Kostanjevec METKA (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 9 56.6 h 194 Kamnik REZIKA (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 5 21.1 h 112 STEFKA (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 4 13.4 h 24 Ljubljana ORION1 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 8 10.2 h 22 KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. TEC1 (1.4/12) 30 dg 4 mag 11 91.1 h 150 LUNRO Lunsford Chula Vista BOCAM (1.4/50) 60 dg 6 mag 12 100.8 h 630 MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS2 (1.4/50) 60 dg 6 mag 8 74.4 h 886 MINCAM1 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 19 90.3 h 220 Ketzuer REMO1 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 20 93.1 h 275 REMO2 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 19 68.5 h 243 OCHPA Ochner Albiano ALBIANO (1.2/4.5) 68 dg 3 mag 21 134.6 h 305 SLAST Slavec Ljubljana KAYAK1 (1.8/28) 50 dg 4 mag 3 9.1 h 23 STOEN Stomeo Scorze MIN38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 12 85.9 h 316 STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 55 dg 6 mag 1 2.8 h 11 STRJO Strunk Herford MINCAM2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 19 105.7 h 463 MINCAM3 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 12 69.2 h 372 MINCAM5 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 13 98.8 h 782 YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski FINEXCAM (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 4 39.0 h 101 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall 31 2285.4 h 10217 2. Observing Times (h) ====================== Dec 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - 1.5 1.0 - - BRIBE 0.3 - - - - - - 5.3 - - 3.8 13.9 - 3.6 - CASFL - - - - - 9.0 12.5 12.5 - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.2 12.2 12.3 - - - - - - - CRIST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10.1 0.5 - 7.7 11.8 12.8 12.9 - - - - - - - ELTMA - - 4.3 - - - - 1.0 - - - - - - - GONRU 7.5 2.4 - - 7.0 - - - 12.6 12.5 - 4.1 1.5 2.5 6.3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HERCA 12.1 10.5 12.1 12.1 9.4 7.5 8.8 - - 12.0 12.0 2.2 6.0 0.8 1.5 HINWO - - 6.3 0.5 2.0 - - 8.3 - - - - - 3.3 2.2 JOBKL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KACJA - - 9.8 - - - - 8.3 3.1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.5 - - - - - 0.9 - - - - - - KOSDE - - 6.0 - - 3.9 - - - - - - 5.6 - - LUNRO 11.9 - - - 3.6 11.6 - - - 11.7 7.4 - - - 1.8 MOLSI - 9.9 - - 4.7 - - - - - - - - 12.5 2.7 6.0 10.1 5.0 1.6 1.6 - 0.7 - 0.7 - - - - 10.8 0.8 - 8.9 5.9 2.9 3.9 - - 9.4 - - - - 2.9 - - - 8.3 2.8 3.9 4.9 - - 3.7 - - - - 0.3 - - OCHPA 2.1 - 10.1 1.0 6.0 9.8 6.0 9.4 2.0 - - - - - - SLAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STOEN - - 2.0 - - 1.1 - 10.0 - - - - - - - STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STRJO - 1.5 - 0.2 - - 1.7 8.0 - 2.5 1.0 5.8 8.9 2.7 - - - - - - - - - - - - 5.9 8.1 1.9 - - - - - - - - - - - - 7.3 8.1 2.9 - YRJIL - - - - - - - 0.1 - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 39.9 61.7 65.3 22.2 50.8 67.9 54.7101.2 19.3 38.7 24.2 40.7 42.4 41.0 15.3 Dec 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - 2.5 3.0 - 1.0 - 6.3 5.7 7.2 - - - 3.0 BRIBE - - - - - - 3.8 - - 13.1 10.7 13.4 13.6 13.1 12.1 - CASFL - 10.3 1.5 12.5 11.7 12.5 3.7 6.5 4.5 - 8.7 10.9 - 11.5 12.5 - 0.9 7.4 1.9 9.7 12.1 12.4 5.3 6.6 1.8 2.0 11.2 8.5 - 11.5 12.5 - CRIST - - - - - - 11.0 - - - - - - - - - - 6.1 5.1 10.0 12.1 9.6 2.8 5.9 - 4.3 11.5 3.3 1.4 2.9 5.1 - ELTMA - - - - - 12.1 - - - - 9.4 - - 11.2 7.1 - GONRU 3.3 - 11.2 12.8 12.8 12.6 12.5 9.1 7.5 7.1 - - - - - - - - - - - - 5.0 6.6 7.3 6.8 0.5 - - - - - HERCA 2.5 - 1.5 2.7 8.0 3.7 11.5 - - 1.0 - 1.0 8.5 11.5 6.5 8.7 HINWO 4.2 - - - - - - - - 9.1 - 2.2 10.0 10.1 13.0 5.4 JOBKL - - - - - - 11.2 - - 12.3 12.6 12.4 12.7 12.4 12.8 - KACJA - - - 8.4 - 6.5 9.4 - 6.5 - - - 0.5 - - 4.1 - - - - - 6.3 8.5 - - - 3.0 2.8 0.5 - - - - - - - - 4.4 - - - - - 2.0 1.4 - - 5.6 - - - 0.8 - 3.8 - - - 0.7 0.7 - 0.7 - - 2.1 KOSDE - - - - - - 13.1 - 1.5 13.3 10.7 12.6 12.3 4.4 7.7 - LUNRO - - - - - 3.4 1.5 - - - - 12.0 - 12.0 11.9 12.0 MOLSI - - - - - - - - - - - - 12.3 11.7 11.9 8.7 - - - - - 0.1 1.8 - 1.1 5.8 - 1.8 13.8 13.8 13.7 1.1 - 2.5 0.7 0.7 6.6 - 2.1 0.7 2.6 14.1 0.7 7.1 4.2 2.6 14.0 0.6 - 1.0 0.2 0.7 7.8 - 1.6 0.5 0.5 9.6 - 4.1 3.2 4.5 6.5 4.4 OCHPA 2.0 3.8 1.0 7.2 9.2 12.3 - 11.9 6.3 2.2 6.3 7.3 - 9.4 9.3 - SLAST - - - - - 5.0 - - - 2.1 - - - - - 2.0 STOEN - 4.7 - 8.8 9.2 10.4 1.0 - - - 8.4 9.9 - 10.2 10.2 - STORO - - - - - - 2.8 - - - - - - - - - STRJO - - - 0.7 4.7 - 1.0 - - 8.5 5.7 13.5 13.6 11.5 13.6 0.6 - - - 0.5 2.2 - 0.5 - - 8.2 5.0 8.7 11.9 9.0 7.3 - - - - 1.7 3.5 - 0.5 - - 13.4 8.3 13.4 11.5 12.8 13.6 1.8 YRJIL - - - - - - - - - - - 11.8 13.5 - - 13.6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 12.9 35.8 23.1 77.2102.4118.1110.6 48.8 39.6139.9119.1165.9144.7186.1201.3 72.2 3. Results (Meteors) ==================== Dec 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - 4 1 - - BRIBE 1 - - - - - - 23 - - 34 165 - 13 - CASFL - - - - - 35 45 47 - - - - - - - - - - - - 36 33 45 - - - - - - - CRIST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 82 5 - 57 98 119 82 - - - - - - - ELTMA - - 16 - - - - 4 - - - - - - - GONRU 78 1 - - 15 - - - 73 80 - 14 12 3 32 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HERCA 14 23 29 28 20 31 34 - - 33 43 10 53 5 3 HINWO - - 46 1 5 - - 65 - - - - - 8 12 JOBKL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KACJA - - 38 - - - - 29 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - 3 - - - - - - KOSDE - - 6 - - 7 - - - - - - 18 - - LUNRO 100 - - - 15 85 - - - 118 38 - - - 6 MOLSI - 154 - - 74 - - - - - - - - 72 12 20 31 18 7 5 - 1 - 2 - - - - 41 3 - 51 11 14 18 - - 26 - - - - 12 - - - 55 11 14 17 - - 12 - - - - 4 - - OCHPA 3 - 24 1 22 23 11 23 2 - - - - - - SLAST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STOEN - - 5 - - 3 - 39 - - - - - - - STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STRJO - 8 - 1 - - 9 28 - 8 4 46 158 16 - - - - - - - - - - - - 76 161 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - 130 312 16 - YRJIL - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 216 405 210 66 248 318 252 424 88 239 119 445 731 183 68 Dec 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENOR - - - - 3 4 - 1 - 13 10 11 - - - 3 BRIBE - - - - - - 7 - - 55 54 47 44 42 58 - CASFL - 28 4 32 30 53 15 15 4 - 19 22 - 21 33 - 3 17 4 21 35 56 26 18 3 5 24 11 - 35 25 - CRIST - - - - - - 33 - - - - - - - - - - 47 36 46 81 84 7 29 - 13 52 5 1 11 16 - ELTMA - - - - - 47 - - - - 30 - - 36 41 - GONRU 3 - 60 61 60 86 64 31 34 35 - - - - - - - - - - - - 17 17 21 23 2 - - - - - HERCA 4 - 2 8 12 9 24 - - 1 - 1 14 15 10 18 HINWO 4 - - - - - - - - 63 - 19 51 32 55 12 JOBKL - - - - - - 134 - - 163 157 150 131 103 140 - KACJA - - - 31 - 25 30 - 25 - - - 2 - - 6 - - - - - 61 35 - - - 5 10 1 - - - - - - - - 10 - - - - - 7 1 - - 6 - - - 1 - 11 - - - 1 1 - 1 - - 3 KOSDE - - - - - - 14 - 2 23 18 24 18 6 14 - LUNRO - - - - - 36 3 - - - - 46 - 56 61 66 MOLSI - - - - - - - - - - - - 215 140 159 60 - - - - - 1 4 - 3 11 - 10 21 20 21 1 - 4 1 1 28 - 3 1 6 34 4 21 9 7 20 4 - 3 1 2 35 - 5 1 2 43 - 10 6 6 11 5 OCHPA 2 8 1 13 19 41 - 31 8 4 15 16 - 20 18 - SLAST - - - - - 18 - - - 2 - - - - - 3 STOEN - 16 - 20 32 63 1 - - - 29 24 - 32 52 - STORO - - - - - - 11 - - - - - - - - - STRJO - - - 2 14 - 4 - - 24 23 29 18 32 36 3 - - - 1 6 - 1 - - 22 20 19 19 17 21 - - - - 3 12 - 1 - - 65 51 41 35 53 59 4 YRJIL - - - - - - - - - - - 41 31 - - 28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sum 16 123 109 242 367 605 439 144 108 600 514 564 618 684 850 222 Sirko Molau, 2009/01/22