(meteorobs) Meteor Magnitude Estimation - Useful Data for Less Than Perfect Skies?

[Bill Godley]

I am not a statistician.

That said, I have been trying to determine if my
perception of meteor magnitudes is reasonably
consistent with those of seasoned meteor observers. 
To do so, I have used the International Meteor
Organization (IMO) 2004 and 2005 meteor data to
determine the following:

IMO Meteor Data for LM Between 4.5 and 5.5
Count: 9,742
Mean Magnitude: 1.7
Median Magnitude: 2
Negative Magnitude (less than 0): 9.9%
Fireballs (equal to or less than -3): 1.9%

I thought this info might interest others who observe
under similar conditions and want to see how they
compare.

My numbers ended up: 415, 1.9, 2, 7.5% and 1.4%.  I
know it is a rather small data set but it seems that
my numbers aren’t out of whack with the experts.

Hooray for space dirt!


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