(meteorobs) Perseids Live ZHR Profile

[meteors at eclipse.net]

Arlene,
To record scientifically useful data you must be able to enter:

1:
The Latitude, Longitude and Height above sea level at your observing
location.
2:
The location of the radiants of any meteor showers you are observing, in
Right Ascention and Declination

3:
The RA and Dec of your field of view (where you are looking)

4:
The exact hours (minutes/60 minutes per hour) that you were watching the sky.

5:
Whether any clouds or trees or buildings obstructed your field of view.

6:
The beginning and end time of your observations.

7:
The limiting magnitude of your sky (what is the magnitude of the faintest
stars you can see). The IMO uses a "counting the stars in a polygon"
method which is easy to learn with some practice.

8:
The number of meteors from each shower you observed for each time interval.

9:
The Magnitude (brightness) of the meteors you see.

I would suggest as a starting point, you go to

http://www.namnmeteors.org/

And look at the observing forms.
Download the NAMN observing guide.
See if you can fill out the form,
http://www.namnmeteors.org/namn_form.html

If you have questions, ask me or Mark at the NAMN and we'll help you.

It's intended as an introduction to the science of recording your
observations.

A printable IMO report form is also available, but my advice is to start
with the NAMN form, until you have all the bugs worked out.

It takes a bit of practice to be able to fill it all out accurately.

Wayne



> okay Luc,
> I'm willing to try my hand at this but i'm a RANK amateur... i'm not good
> at
> technical data so i often don''t even report in unless, like the other
> night, i
> see something spectacular!!
>
> i don't always know WHAT is the radiant of a meteor i see...is my data
> totally useless then?
>
> If you want some information from me, can you tell me the most BASIC and
> easiest way to report it?
>
> I have a feeling that my observations are just for fun, not for science.
> that's okay for me, but if i can help in any way, i'd be happy to try.
>
> let me know, okay?
>
> arlene
> south of troy
>
> On 8/10/07, Luc Bastiaens <lba@