(meteorobs) FW: 5th magnitude "ceiling"

Richard Taibi rjtaibi at hotmail.com
Tue Oct 24 17:28:00 EDT 2006


Let me complete my thought!  I sent the original message below when I meant 
to "save draft."

My point was that inspecting all of the reports observers posted, and for 
those who reported nearly +7 magnitude skies, no one reported seeing a sixth 
magnitude meteor.  To be sure, there were many fifth magnitudes.  It strikes 
me as being odd that there was almost a two-magnitude margin between the 
faintest observed meteors and the limiting magnitude.

I wonder what observers think may be happening when they observe?  Do you 
think that our limiting magnitude determination procedures somehow mislead 
us in terms of faintest meteors we can expect to see?  Is this explainable 
in terms of acuity in the center of the field of view?  After all, we find 
limiting magnitude by looking fixedly at star regions. (Perhaps the best 
predictor of faintest meteor to expect is limiting magnitude "off axis" from 
our central vision.)  But if this is true, what about deep sky observer's 
maxim that averted vision shows the faintest objects?  May moving light 
sources, as meteors are, explain some of this "5th magnitude ceiling?"

Best wishes,  Rich


>From: "Richard Taibi" <rjtaibi at hotmail.com>
>To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
>Subject: 5th magnitude "ceiling" Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:26:24 -0400
>
>I have read with admiration and awe all of you who had clear, 6th magnitude 
>skies, and many Orionid meteors.  I checked a few of you who reported skies 
>darker than +6: Bob L., George Gliba, Michel V.,
>
>




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