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Re: (meteorobs) RMO -- GRALE
In a message dated 97-08-09 12:58:35 EDT, you write:
> How did you get all those trains, Lew? I've observed for 9 hours
> this month and have seen about 35 meteors, and I've only seen 1
> TRAIN!
Actually, Jon, based on your hourly rates (4 per hour??!), I'd say you're
either observing from a very light-polluted location, or your field of view
is very obstructed by trees, houses, etc. If either of these is true
(ESPECIALLY the light pollution), you'll see many fewer meteors, and so
many fewer trains!
Of course, 1 meteor in 35 still seems fairly low. But if you're observing
from a brightly-lit location, diffuse objects such as meteor trains ARE
more likely to get lost in the haze than point sources (like stars and
meteors). This last point was strikingly demonstrated for me the night
before PER max: I was observing from a dark site, but in heavy haze. The
result was that my LM was a meager 5.4 much of the time - roughly equal to
LMs in pink-sky Medford. Yet UNLIKE Medford, the Cygnus Milky Way from my
dark site STILL stood out very nicely to direct vision, in spite of the haze!
One last point, Jonathan: are you counting so-called "wakes" in your train
numbers? These are trains which don't last any longer than the meteor
itself, making it appear "elongated" rather than seeming like smoke trails...
Clear(er) skies to all!
Lew