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Re: (meteorobs) Question?
Jonathan wrote:
> I have a question.
[snip]
> What would be the best goal for a first complete-year of meteor observing?
And George Zay replied:
>Jonathan...Accurate Data.
Jonathan, let me relate a "short" story. Back when I was in college in
Chemistry and Physics freshman and sophomore classes, I did not initially do
too well because I'd ignored my math basics while in high school and so had
trouble, at times, understanding what, when, and how to calculate solutions
to various problems.
But one thing I turned out to be supremely good at: taking very accurate
data, recording it properly, and intuitively understanding when the data I
observed was not reasonable or did not fit what I should be seeing and/or
did not fit what should be happening.
Early on, both my Chemistry and Physics profs recognized that I was a much
better technician than the vast majority of the class while a much worse
"engineer" or "scientist" than the majority of the class. During my second
semesters of freshman classes, both profs, who were good friends and prone
to spend long hours together in each other's offices, apparently came to the
same conclusion: encourage me to continue to develop my already-superb
technical observation skills; encourage me to help them teach others those
skills in my classes; and as a sidelight, have the class top-performers
tutor me in the mathmatical basics that I had ignored and was still lacking.
The end result was that although I really did not qualify for admission to
either the sophomore-level analytic chemistry classes nor the fourth
semester physics class, I was admitted AND EVENTUALLY PASSED! both classes
because of super-strong technical skills in handling and intuitively
understanding experiments and data, plus a willingness to work on my
inferior basic math skills.
What George says is true, and I'll summarize both his comment and my own in
one more word than he used:
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.
Learn the basics well; continue to exercise them continuously so your skill
level continually grows; and when you are thoroughly comfortable with what
you already know and can do, bring in other and new techniques to further
expand your knowledge and capabilities.
How to learn the basics of meteor observation? Use the IMO's visual observer
handbook. DO NOT attempt to progress on to a new observation technique until
you are a master at the old ones, or you will become a jack-of-all-trades
and master of none. As you master your basic skills, you will accrue respect
from others from within the visual observation community accordingly!
Steve Harrison
Shrewsbury MA