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Re: (meteorobs) Plotting During Major Showers

Well, Lew, I suppose this is a good time to ask for input from plotman on 
the west coast and others who have magnitudes of more plotting experience 
than we do combined, as to how they get from flash across the sky, to 
inscription on a plotting chart. Gentlemen....the ball is in your court! 
Guide us! :8-)  Wayne
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Original Text
From Lew Gramer <dedalus@latradedot com>, on 7/30/96 1:44 PM:
To: "Meteor Observing Mailing List" <meteorobs@latradedot com>

>New areas keep rising in the East that I have to learn!!

I know, ain't it annoying? :)) (wide grin)

Earlier in the summer, I actually had the warm, misty-eyed experience of 
REidentifying constellations I hadn't seen since I was about 18 years old. 
Now, 
the dawn sky is finally just getting around to the constellations I 
reacquainted 
myself with last March, so I feel all warm and cozy for that.

It's definitely true that meteor observing (and especially plotting!) is 
one of 
the best ways in the world to become REALLY familiar with the night sky: if 
you 
never bothered to identify all those dim little constellations the 
Victorians 
dreamed up, you will end up learning them! I find that this actually feeds 
back 
into the pleasure I get, whether from deep-sky observing or from my simple 
sky 
watching, doing binocular sweeps or just staring naked eye from a dark 
site!

I noticed it seems like you and I have radically different ways of plotting,
 by 
the way, Wayne! I also use a tape recorder, but never put pen to paper 
until 
I've got all the data recorded, and have a clear idea what star patterns to 
look 
for on the chart: sort of a depth first approach. Sounds like your way of 
doing 
things is a whole lot more efficient, in terms of getting the graphite down 
on 
the paper within a few spare seconds after the event.

I find I just can't do this: regardless of how well I know the area the 
meteor 
crossed, I still need time to orient myself, take measure of the position 
of the 
path start and end, and commit it all to memory. And I tend to forget other 
info, like mag & train lengths, after I've plotted. I wonder how many 
different 
ways there are of doing plotting? Seems like it's just yet another area 
that 
shows a "deep" connection between meteors and individual 
perception/cognition!

Lew, waxing philosophical on the public internet...
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