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re: (meteorobs) Those pesky path lengths
This is a great discussion! Now for my 2 cents worth.
Lew, 10 degree meteors are not short. My average path length is
closer to 5 degrees than 10. The odds of a sporadic lining up exactly
with the Perseid radiant and possessing the correct velocity is about
one per hour. That is a very small fraction of the meteors you will
see. If a meteor lines up with the Perseid radiant I would call it a
Perseid unless its path length is more than twice the distance from
the radiant (as George Zay already stated) or it is moving too slowly
( less than 10 degrees per second).
What will be most revealing will be your sporadic totals per hour. If
it is less than 10 then I would worry about the possibility of
classifying sporadics as Perseids. If it is 20 or more then I would
worry about the possibility you are classifying Perseids as sporadics.
I would expect observers under good skie sto see 10-15 sporadics per
hour no matter what the Perseid rates are. Unfortunately, even I
occasionally stray beyond these limits and wonder what the heck is
going on.
Bob