Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - November 2009
=======================================================
The observing conditions deteriorated significantly in November after the
weather had been highly cooperative for three months in a row. In particular
south European observing sites, which where privileged so far, enjoyed only
a few clear nights, whereas the weather was still acceptable at the more
northern locations. Beside the two American observers who enjoyed perfect
conditions again, there were only three cameras with twenty or more observing
nights. In particular the first part of the month was poor. Weather improved
in the second decade just in time for the Leonids, but towards the end the
situation became worse again. Thanks to the large number of cameras, we still
collected over 2,200 hours of effective observing time and 10,000 meteors.
The Leonids were once more the highlight of November. The predictions from
different researchers promised ZHRs beyond 150 in the night of November 17/18.
The peak was confirmed by the preliminary IMO analysis of visual observations.
A ZHR of almost 100 was reached at 20 UT on November 17 - too early for the
European video observers. The rate dropped to 40 until midnight with two
minor peaks at 23 and 01 UT.
Figure 1 gives the complete Leonid activity profile from our November video
data. For each night, the number of Leonids was divided by the number of
sporadic meteors and averaged over all cameras. First Leonid activity
occurred on November 10. As expected, peak activity was detected in the
night of November 17/18 - the only night when more Leonids were recorded
than Sporadics. Thereafter, the activity declined rapidly and around November
22 the shower was essentially gone.
Figure 1: Activity profile of the Leonids in November 2009.
Figure 2 shows the detailed profile from the morning of November 18. Here, a
subset of 17 cameras was selected, that enjoyed clear skies for a longer
period of time. The number of Leonids was counted in half hour intervals and
corrected by the radiant altitude. Unfortunately, only the time interval
00:30-05:00 UT could be reasonably covered, i.e. after the peak. During that
time, the Leonid activity drops slowly. For comparison, the preliminary
visual profile is overlayed, which shows the same trend.
That's about all we can read out of the video data.
Figure 2: Detailed activity profile from the morning of November 18, 2009.
The preliminary visual ZHR profile of IMO is shows as a line.
Finally, I would like to discuss an interesting phenomenon. When reading our
recent meteor shower analysis, the Japanese video observer SonotaCo stumbled
over two strange points in the radiant plot. The figure that shows the
difference between the ecliptical longitude of the radiant and the solar
longitude against the ecliptical latitude (figure 3), has a concentration
of Apex radiants at about 270 degrees. For geometric reasons they are of
high velocity, which is why they are mainly plotted in purple. However,
there are also two single yellow dots (figure 4), i.e. two relatively strong
radiants with a significantly lower velocity.
Figure 3: Radiant plot from the comprehensive IMO meteor shower analysis in
summer 2009. The x-axis represents the difference between the ecliptical
radiant longitude and the solar longitude, the y-axis the ecliptical latitude
of the radiant. The radiant velocity is coded by color and the strength by
intensity.
Figure 4: Magnification from figure 3 with two unusual radiants in the Apex
region.
A detailed analysis revealed that these two radiants occurred at solar
longitude 236 and 237 with a position of alpha=161 deg, delta=16..17 deg and a
velocity of 52 km/s. The radiant was the third strongest source in both
intervals (1,200 meteors in total) comparable to the northern and southern
Taurids. The temporal proximity and the position only a few degrees away from
the Leonid radiant suggested these to be artefacts from the Leonids. But how
should they arise?
My first suspicion was, that one camera was incorrectly calibrated during the
Leonid storms. Spot checks revealed, however, that the meteors belonging to
these radiants were recorded in different years by different cameras.
Remarkably many of them came from image-intensified cameras (no wonder given
that these provided the majority of data from the Leonid storms) and occurred
near the edges of fov. Larger position and velocity errors are expected there,
because the image distortion of intensifiers is much stronger at the edges.
But why should these meteors form a distinct pseudo radiant instead of random
scatter around the Leonid radiant? A few meteors occurred in line with the
original and the "pseudo" Leonid radiant, but there were also high quality
meteors (near the center of fov, many frames, good astrometry) showing a clear
velocity deviation (about 10% relative) compared to the Leonids.
Thus, given the current state of affairs, these two spots are most likely a
Leonid artefact, but we have no explanation for their origin.
1. Observers
============
Code Name Place Camera FOV LM Nights Time Meteors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR Benitez-S. Las Palmas TIMES4 (1.4/50) 20 dg 3 mag 12 33.5 h 116
TIMES5 (0.95/50) 10 dg 3 mag 19 37.2 h 96
BRIBE Brinkmann Herne HERMINE (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 19 53.4 h 327
CASFL Castellani Monte Baldo BMH1 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 16 94.8 h 296
BMH2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 15 100.7 h 392
CRIST Crivello Valbrevenna C3P8 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 14 102.8 h 537
STG38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 12 18.5 h 34
ELTMA Eltri Venezia MET38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 5 23.9 h 83
GONRU Goncalves Tomar TEMPLAR1 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 9 31.3 h 141
TEMPLAR2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 15 50.8 h 199
GOVMI Govedic Sredisce ORION2 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 14 85.0 h 457
HERCA Hergenroth. Tucson SALSA (1.2/4) 80 dg 3 mag 26 127.7 h 439
SALSA2 (1.2/4) 80 dg 3 mag 25 155.1 h 643
HINWO Hinz Brannenburg AKM2 (0.85/25) 32 dg 6 mag 13 73.0 h 348
IGAAN Igaz Budapest HUBAJ (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 12 47.3 294
JOBKL Jobse Oostkapelle BETSY2 (1.2/85) 25 dg 7 mag 10 65.8 h 616
KACJA Kac Kostanjevec METKA (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 10 67.9 h 231
Ljubljana ORION1 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 13 43.0 h 105
Kamnik STEFKA (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 5 13.2 h 38
KOSDE Koschny Noordwijkerh. TEC1 (1.4/12) 30 dg 4 mag 8 30.6 h 81
TRON1 (1.4/12.5) 30 dg 3 mag 3 6.2 13
LUNRO Lunsford Chula Vista BOCAM (1.4/50) 60 dg 6 mag 23 166.9 h 1019
MOLSI Molau Seysdorf AVIS2 (1.4/50) 60 dg 6 mag 11 68.0 h 793
MINCAM1 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 22 134.3 h 655
Ketzuer REMO1 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 20 70.8 h 325
REMO2 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 16 66.2 h 296
OCHPA Ochner Albiano ALBIANO (1.2/4.5) 68 dg 3 mag 16 89.1 h 363
SCHHA Schremmer Niederkr. DORAEMON (0.8/3.8)80 dg 3 mag 22 68.8 h 272
SLAST Slavec Ljubljana KAYAK1 (1.8/28) 50 dg 4 mag 10 63.2 h 292
STOEN Stomeo Scorze MIN38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 8 43.4 h 229
NOA38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 9 30.6 h 112
SCO38 (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 8 40.3 h 227
STORO Stork Ondrejov OND1 (1.4/50) 55 dg 6 mag 1 3.2 34
STRJO Strunk Herford MINCAM2 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 13 27.5 h 107
MINCAM3 (0.8/8) 42 dg 4 mag 4 7.2 h 21
MINCAM5 (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 8 26.0 h 144
TEPIS Tepliczky Budapest HUMOB (0.8/3.8) 80 dg 3 mag 6 23.9 h 93
YRJIL Yrjola Kuusankoski FINEXCAM (0.8/6) 55 dg 3 mag 5 20.7 h 78
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall 30 2211.8 h 10546
2. Observing Times (h)
======================
Nov 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2.3
- - - 2.5 1.7 1.0 4.4 2.5 2.0 - - 2.7 1.5 1.7 2.5
BRIBE - 4.3 - 0.6 - - - - - - 5.6 0.5 5.4 3.4 2.2
CASFL 7.0 - - 9.6 - 10.1 - - - - - - - - -
5.3 - - - - - - - - 9.4 9.8 3.3 - 1.6 -
CRIST - 7.8 5.2 12.1 - 12.0 - - 8.3 10.3 5.8 - - - -
- 0.5 3.1 2.4 - 0.4 - - - - 1.0 1.1 - 0.8 -
ELTMA 4.7 - - - - - - - - 6.1 9.9 2.1 - - -
GONRU - - 0.8 0.8 - - - - - 2.6 - - - - -
- 4.2 0.6 2.8 1.2 2.6 - - - 2.9 - - - - -
GOVMI - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3.7 3.8
HERCA 6.8 4.0 2.7 7.0 - 5.5 - 3.8 6.3 4.5 4.3 2.0 - 0.7 5.2
7.0 4.7 4.0 6.9 1.4 5.4 - 9.0 8.1 6.1 4.1 3.8 - - 6.1
HINWO 3.2 - - 2.5 1.3 1.4 1.7 - - - 6.5 - 11.0 - -
IGAAN - - - - - - - - - - - - 3.7 1.4 1.3
JOBKL - - - - - - 11.4 4.0 - 1.7 - - 1.6 5.0 5.6
KACJA - - - - - - 4.6 - - - - 2.5 7.9 - -
2.3 - - - - - - - 3.3 - 3.5 2.2 1.9 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KOSDE - 4.2 - - - - 6.8 - - - 2.5 - - - 3.6
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3.6
LUNRO 6.7 8.0 6.5 7.2 0.7 - - - 7.8 2.0 3.9 2.8 - - 9.5
MOLSI - - - 3.1 8.6 - - - 0.8 - 3.9 - 11.7 - -
- - 2.0 5.5 12.5 - - - 0.6 - 5.3 4.3 12.9 5.9 -
- - - - 1.9 3.5 3.2 - - 2.7 - 1.1 5.6 7.7 4.0
- - - - 4.5 0.9 1.3 - - - - - 2.0 2.5 -
OCHPA 2.1 - 3.0 6.7 - 4.7 - - - 8.1 10.1 5.8 0.1 2.8 -
SCHHA 0.2 4.4 1.2 1.0 2.0 - 1.7 - - - 5.6 - 0.3 3.0 0.5
SLAST - - - - - - - - - - 7.0 4.4 1.5 - -
STOEN 7.2 - 1.1 - 2.4 - - - - 12.3 12.5 3.8 - - -
4.0 - 1.1 - 1.2 - - - - 8.1 11.8 2.0 - - -
5.5 - 1.0 - 1.8 - - - - 9.2 12.6 4.1 - - -
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - 0.5 - - 1.2 - - - - - 1.0 3.5 3.3 1.6
- - - - - - - - - - - - 0.2 1.1 -
- - 0.5 - - - - - - - - - 1.7 5.4 1.0
TEPIS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3.0
YRJIL 3.4 4.5 11.0 - - - - - - - - - 1.3 - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 65.4 46.6 44.3 70.7 41.2 48.7 35.1 19.3 37.2 86.0125.7 49.5 73.8 50.0 55.8
Nov 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR 1.0 6.1 3.7 2.5 3.6 3.4 1.7 2.3 1.2 2.3 - - 3.4 - -
- 1.0 - 1.8 2.2 0.3 2.0 1.7 1.0 2.0 - - 2.7 - -
BRIBE 0.4 8.0 3.4 11.1 0.3 - 1.1 0.4 - 2.5 2.3 0.4 0.3 - 1.2
CASFL 1.9 9.5 10.4 7.4 11.4 9.5 0.5 7.0 6.3 1.8 0.6 1.1 0.7 - -
- 5.6 10.9 10.4 10.9 12.0 - 9.3 6.8 4.0 0.5 0.9 - - -
CRIST - - 12.1 10.1 10.4 1.0 - 4.7 1.0 - - - - - 2.0
2.1 2.0 2.2 0.4 2.5 - - - - - - - - - -
ELTMA - 1.1 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
GONRU - 9.1 - 1.6 - - - 8.8 6.1 - 0.4 1.1 - - -
- 8.1 5.0 0.6 - - 5.0 7.8 2.7 - 2.0 - - 2.8 2.5
GOVMI 10.9 10.8 11.2 8.8 7.1 - - 3.6 5.3 8.1 7.6 1.5 0.8 1.8 -
HERCA 6.2 7.4 7.0 8.4 7.2 6.7 7.3 5.3 4.5 5.5 5.5 2.4 1.0 0.5 -
8.5 7.9 7.0 6.6 8.2 6.2 7.9 7.7 6.5 5.8 8.3 6.6 1.3 - -
HINWO 0.6 - 12.4 12.5 7.9 11.1 - - - - - - - 0.9 -
IGAAN 3.8 5.3 6.5 4.5 - - - 2.2 2.1 10.0 - - 4.5 2.0 -
JOBKL - 11.5 - 12.5 - - - 8.6 3.9 - - - - - -
KACJA 8.5 10.7 7.7 - 8.8 5.1 - - - 7.3 - - 4.8 - -
1.5 3.6 5.0 1.4 8.9 3.7 - - 4.8 - - - - 0.9 -
- 7.0 - 2.0 - 2.8 - - 1.2 0.2 - - - - -
KOSDE - 1.8 1.1 9.2 - - - - - - - - - 1.4 -
- 1.3 - 1.3 - - - - - - - - - - -
LUNRO 10.2 7.5 7.5 7.4 8.2 9.6 4.2 9.9 10.6 8.7 10.0 8.9 - - 9.1
MOLSI - - 10.8 11.2 8.7 3.9 - - - 1.8 3.5 - - - -
4.0 5.5 13.1 13.1 7.2 8.6 3.7 2.7 5.2 2.4 1.5 4.3 10.9 3.1 -
1.7 5.7 0.3 8.4 1.9 3.4 5.3 0.6 - 2.7 4.4 2.7 - 4.0 -
- 5.0 1.2 8.6 3.1 1.6 13.5 2.0 - 5.4 9.7 4.1 - 0.8 -
OCHPA - 8.0 7.6 9.7 8.6 - - - 4.8 - - 1.1 5.9 - -
SCHHA 0.3 11.3 4.5 7.7 - - 1.4 5.1 2.4 8.2 1.8 1.4 0.6 - 4.2
SLAST - 7.6 8.8 4.8 12.2 8.4 - 4.8 3.7 - - - - - -
STOEN - - - - - - - 3.5 0.6 - - - - - -
- - - 1.1 - - - 1.0 0.3 - - - - - -
- - - 1.1 - - - 5.0 - - - - - - -
STORO - 3.2 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO 0.9 1.5 - 6.9 - - 3.2 1.0 - 0.7 2.2 - - - -
- - - 5.4 - - 0.5 - - - - - - - -
2.0 2.7 - 12.0 - - 0.7 - - - - - - - -
TEPIS - 4.9 2.9 7.2 3.2 - - - - - - - 2.7 - -
YRJIL - - - - - 0.5 - - - - - - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 64.5180.7162.3217.7142.5 97.8 58.0105.0 81.0 79.4 60.3 36.5 39.6 18.2 19.0
3. Results (Meteors)
====================
Nov 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5
- - - 8 7 2 10 5 7 - - 5 2 3 5
BRIBE - 25 - 2 - - - - - - 39 3 18 20 6
CASFL 14 - - 25 - 29 - - - - - - - - -
14 - - - - - - - - 49 38 10 - 8 -
CRIST - 69 11 66 - 75 - - 41 67 34 - - - -
- 1 3 4 - 1 - - - - 2 2 - 2 -
ELTMA 14 - - - - - - - - 22 42 4 - - -
GONRU - - 1 1 - - - - - 8 - - - - -
- 11 2 12 3 12 - - - 7 - - - - -
GOVMI - - - - - - - - - - - - - 25 9
HERCA 20 8 8 24 - 15 - 13 19 15 13 6 - 3 19
26 11 13 27 2 15 - 32 32 15 19 9 - - 20
HINWO 9 - - 3 2 7 2 - - - 48 - 50 - -
IGAAN - - - - - - - - - - - - 21 4 4
JOBKL - - - - - - 134 32 - 13 - - 10 47 29
KACJA - - - - - - 15 - - - - 3 28 - -
6 - - - - - - - 10 - 5 5 3 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
KOSDE - 14 - - - - 20 - - - 6 - - - 9
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6
LUNRO 60 52 27 37 3 - - - 34 21 12 10 - - 43
MOLSI - - - 22 69 - - - 9 - 17 - 145 - -
- - 5 25 76 - - - 2 - 11 10 48 35 -
- - - - 3 11 7 - - 7 - 2 20 29 24
- - - - 16 2 3 - - - - - 9 17 -
OCHPA 4 - 8 24 - 15 - - - 38 47 25 2 10 -
SCHHA 1 13 5 2 7 - 4 - - - 22 - 2 11 2
SLAST - - - - - - - - - - 18 10 6 - -
STOEN 16 - 4 - 3 - - - - 75 103 16 - - -
6 - 2 - 2 - - - - 40 49 6 - - -
17 - 1 - 5 - - - - 75 97 17 - - -
STORO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO - - 1 - - 4 - - - - - 3 7 19 6
- - - - - - - - - - - - 1 4 -
- - 1 - - - - - - - - - 13 37 12
TEPIS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9
YRJIL 9 18 42 - - - - - - - - - 7 - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 216 222 134 282 198 188 195 82 154 452 622 146 392 274 208
Nov 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR 1 29 10 5 12 13 5 8 6 13 - - 9 - -
- 2 - 7 5 1 5 4 4 5 - - 9 - -
BRIBE 2 82 33 49 1 - 14 2 - 14 11 2 1 - 3
CASFL 2 43 40 19 37 33 1 19 24 5 1 2 2 - -
- 30 54 27 47 48 - 30 27 7 1 2 - - -
CRIST - - 62 32 61 2 - 13 1 - - - - - 3
6 3 4 1 5 - - - - - - - - - -
ELTMA - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
GONRU - 61 - 3 - - - 35 29 - 1 2 - - -
- 56 27 2 - - 12 27 10 - 8 - - 3 7
GOVMI 98 84 50 49 30 - - 15 27 45 14 2 2 7 -
HERCA 30 42 35 34 22 19 16 22 12 16 15 9 2 2 -
41 58 46 35 30 28 31 32 35 28 35 20 3 - -
HINWO 6 - 62 57 41 55 - - - - - - - 6 -
IGAAN 17 95 50 9 - - - 4 7 38 - - 20 25 -
JOBKL - 97 - 132 - - - 83 39 - - - - - -
KACJA 34 41 36 - 28 16 - - - 21 - - 9 - -
1 16 12 5 29 4 - - 8 - - - - 1 -
- 26 - 3 - 4 - - 4 1 - - - - -
KOSDE - 4 4 20 - - - - - - - - - 4 -
- 3 - 4 - - - - - - - - - - -
LUNRO 72 78 62 37 66 31 11 51 66 64 70 53 - - 59
MOLSI - - 168 167 85 53 - - - 15 43 - - - -
23 58 91 71 21 54 16 11 22 5 5 15 31 20 -
6 91 1 50 3 5 16 3 - 13 13 9 - 12 -
- 26 4 56 8 7 45 10 - 32 32 22 - 7 -
OCHPA - 41 40 38 39 - - - 18 - - 2 12 - -
SCHHA 1 65 31 26 - - 6 19 7 24 4 6 1 - 13
SLAST - 39 35 11 111 28 - 7 27 - - - - - -
STOEN - - - - - - - 11 1 - - - - - -
- - - 1 - - - 5 1 - - - - - -
- - - 1 - - - 14 - - - - - - -
STORO - 34 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STRJO 2 8 - 31 - - 9 5 - 3 9 - - - -
- - - 15 - - 1 - - - - - - - -
7 16 - 56 - - 2 - - - - - - - -
TEPIS - 31 7 26 11 - - - - - - - 9 - -
YRJIL - - - - - 2 - - - - - - - - -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 349 1260 964 1079 692 403 190 430 375 349 262 146 110 87 85
Sirko Molau, 2010/01/13