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Re: (meteorobs) meteor duration estimates
George,
Sorry about the ambiguous post. The phrase "when I was visually observing"
really meant "when i was active as a visual observer." To clarify, during
the periods that I was actually observing meteors in the field, I estimated
all durations mentally, and did not use a stopwatch. The stopwatch was a
training device only.
The reason for training oneself in making these time estimates outside of
the field is for precisely the reason that Rainer pointed out. When you are
out in the field there are no time markers hanging about from which to make
direct comparisons, such as with magnitude estimates. The observer must go
into the field with a practiced feel for how long a particular duration is,
and be able to sort the meteors he/she observesinto those catagories.
Listening to the seconds "chunk" by on a time broadcast, such as WWV, might
help one to keep in mind a 1 second reference time, but I found this
incredibly boring and prefered my meteors against a background of soft
classical music. You will believe what you want to believe, George, but I
did not base my duration estimates upon apparent motion, but on how long (in
my best judgement) the meteor actually lasted in units of time.
In essence, the different methods of obtaining angular velocity estimates
from visual observers are simply different ways of skinning the same cat.
I, for one, am not about to make judgements as to whose method is more
accurate or useful, especially when there are no qualitative comparisons
upon which to base such judgements. Ultimately, the decision as to what
type of data is collected and how it is used belongs to the researcher or
researching ortganization. observers wishing to collect data for a
particular organization should tailor their techniques to match.
Take care,
Jim Richardson
Graceville, FL
Richardson@DigitalExpdot com