(meteorobs) Perception is important
Richard Taibi
rjtaibi at hotmail.com
Sun Dec 19 11:29:03 EST 2004
Hi all,
I just read Kim's and Norm's exchange about Lms and meteors seen. It is
interesting that the "same" sky, that is the same Lm, does not give the same
ability to see meteors. If we all observed under the same conditions, we
would see different meteor rates. Meteor observing is at least as much
visuo-perception as it is limiting magnitude. In some of Rainer Arlt's past
written, comprehensive, meteor shower summaries, he has published lists of
long-term observers' "Perception factors." These lists demonstrate what
both Kim and Norm mentioned. We "see" meteors with our visual cortexes, a
region of the brain. Some of us have more sensitive optical-brain systems
than others, and so "see" more meteors. It was daunting for me, in a
perceptiveness ranking that Rainer published about ability to see meteors
during a bright moon, that I was very near the bottom of the list. Under
dark-moon circumstances, others of Rainer's lists show that I am somewhere
near the middle of the pack. Even when we look at the stars, we cannot
leave ourselves behind!
Best wishes, Rich
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