[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: (meteorobs) Plotting During Major Showers
Regarding plotting times, I've been tape recording my observations, and
spend the time transcribing my observations to paper afterward. I indicate
the moments when I see the meteor, usually like "there's a Mag 4" , but
occasionally ooooh, or Wow!), when my eyes leave the sky ("plot time starts
now"), ending with a time check (it is 2:47) and when the eyes go back on
the sky (plot time stops now).
This allows me to time the exact dead time when eyes were off the sky. My
plot times were averaging 60 seconds per, until I made 2 changes. First,
after a scare where I thought I had a blank tape, I now also record the
items on the plot report form as well. I still tape record, and use that as
a QC check on what I wrote, and additional details on the meteor. Also,
once I reached the point where I felt more comfortable with knowing the sky,
I did slow down my plotting, taking a little extra time to firmly fix the
details and triple checking my plot location before commiting to that
pencil mark. As a result my plot time is currently around 75 seconds but I
now rate more as "1" accuracy. I expect the plot times will once
again drift down, if I ever get to see the sky again and get some more
practice.
Typically the meteor to plot start times range from 7 seconds for one
in the center of my field of view near bright stars that I know well, to as
much as 25 to thirty if it's in an area that I haven't learned as well yet
and I have to orient myself. New areas keep rising in the East that I have
to learn!! I still have vague memories of the area of Leo, but I bet I'll
have a lot more homework to do when it starts to peek over that Eastern
horizon again in a few months!
Wayne
-------------
Original Text
From Lew Gramer <dedalus@latradedot com>, on 7/30/96 12:38 PM:
To: "Meteor Observing Mailing List" <meteorobs@latradedot com>
>Not all yet...sometimes the brain can't find the reference stars on the
charts
>before the stored details start to leak out my ears :-)
You've got a good point there, Wayne. I find that two meteors, recorded
some
times as much as four minutes apart, are sometimes all it takes to make me
lose
the plotting info on the first one. As I think I mentioned in a previous
post,
this only happens when the meteors are well-spaced! If they occur close
together
(within the same minute), or if the first happens to have a path that's
really
easy to remember, I have no problems. Somehow, my brain just stows the data
for
that first meteor in a compartment somewhere.
I only count about 45 seconds per plotted meteor as "dead time" (time with
my
eyes off the sky). But the actual time spent recording the non-plot info
(esp.
listening for or checking the time), noting nearby star patterns and
distances,
and then getting flashlight and pen in hand without looking is a whole lot
more!
If a meteor happens while this long process is going on, some kind of
cognitive
dissonance occurs, I get flustered, and that first meteor becomes a
no-plot. :(
I think this decreases with time and practice, but somehow it feels like a
sort
of a mental fundamental to me. Anybody else just learning the delicate art
of
meteor plotting (or who already knows it!), who has similar experiences?
Lew
Follow-Ups: