(meteorobs) June Bootids - Call for observations

[Geert Barentsen]

>I also take to heart his suggestion NOT to memorize a
>radiant location for the JBOs ahead of time. This helps
>me eliminate any self-doubts about "plotting the meteor
>to fit the radiant" - this is just TOO easy to do... :(


Hello Lew,

I totally agree! Knowledge of the precise radiant location can inevitably 
influence the path of a meteor in your mind :-(
This may also happen while plotting a meteor on a chart that already 
contains many shower meteors. It is undoubtedly better to use a new chart 
every night. However, with or without new charts, Murphy makes sure that 
there will always be two meteors on the same path during a plotting session ;-)


Here are some details about my plotting technique... Suggestions and 
remarks are very welcome!

-When I a plot a meteor (~35s plotting dead time), I categorically ignore 
other meteors during this dead time. I subtract this dead time from the 
effective observing time in the analysis. I have always assumed that this 
is the right thing to do??  I cannot store more than one meteor in my 
visual memory anyway.

-Over the years I have put an effort into learning all the visible stars in 
the in the areas where I often plot. I have gained an incredible amount of 
speed and accuracy because of this... memorize your heavens people!! :-)

-In a similar way, understanding the way the Brno-charts cover the sky is 
very important. It takes only a 15 minut effort before you can relate any 
part of the sky to the correct Brno chart number. This may save up to 10-20 
seconds of chart-searching-dead-time for each meteor!

-I don't use a ruler to plot a meteor. I concentrate on the point of 
beginning and point of ending of the path, and put a cross on both places 
(I never use circles or bullet, they are hard to measure). I connect both 
crosses with a loose line. Next, I indicate the sense with arrows and 
indicate the meteor number and accuracy at a fixed position (=> above the 
beginning point of a meteor, to avoid confusion with possible nearby 
meteors). I use "+" (plus), "O" and "-" (minus) to indicate the accuracy, 
wich is less confusing than "1", "2" and "3".
Not using a ruler can make a chart look untidy, but in my opinion saves 
time and improves the accuracy.


I regularly observe with new observers. From my experience, people with 
good constellation-acquaintance need at least 5 to 6 nights before they 
reach an acceptable accuracy. However, I've seen experienced deepsky-freaks 
with good results from the very first plot! It's all about knowing the 
constellations and stars!

Kind regards,
Geert