(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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