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Re: (meteorobs) Meteor Colours
Many UK observers record meteor colours as a matter of course, but by
and large there's little that can really be don e with such records -
it might, from time to time, prove interesting that a number of
greenish Geminids are reported, say, but it's hard to attach great
scientific importance to something which is both observer-perception
dependent and a bit subjective. Whatever, I don't really see how
color is likely to influence magnitude estimates. After all, the
phenomenon we're trying to estimate the magnitude of is only there,
typically, for 0.1-0.2 sec, and accuracy of better than 0.5 magnitude
is unlikely to be attainable. VS observers, whose subject stays put
in the field, and doesn't vanish instantly, claim accuracy no better
than 0.2 mag.... The Purkinje effect, wherein red stars brighten up
as you look, takes a matter of a few seconds to come in, in m
experience (g Herculis is a good star on which to see this!) - I
doubt if the eye has time to show a Purkinje effect on something as
short-lived as a meteor!
Midsummer twilight the dominant thing her in the UK - so little
serious observing possible. As Tom McEwan has already made clear,
however, we're all looking out for noctilucent clouds....
Neil Bone
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