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(meteorobs) Re: Statistics & Stationary Meteors

Malcolm,

My intentions were not toward bragging but rather to supply an
APPROXIMATE comparison as to just how rare stationary meteors are. If I
were to state "I have seen 10 stationary meteors" the reader has no clue
as to the percentage these 10 represent. It could be 10 out of 100 which
would show a common occurrence or 10 out of 50,000 which indicates a
true scarcity.

If I wanted to be precise I would have stated that I have seen perhaps
10 stationary meteors out of 51,284 meteors recorded. I do keep grand
totals and also I mention true stationary meteors in my observing
reports. I do not though keep a grand total for stationary meteors and I
lack the free time to look through many years of records just to come up
with an exact figure.

One stationary meteor in 500 is much more than what I see. As an
observer who faces the radiant in most cases it would seem logical that
I would tend to see a higher percentage of stationary events (at least
for shower meteors). An observer who would have this high of a
percentage is probably including "flashing satellites" (mentioned below)
that look much like stationary meteors.  

Bob Lunsford


> > Lew asked:
> > How many stationaries have other experienced observers recorded, by the way?
> 
Malcolm Currie replies:

> It's not something I've kept a tally of as it wasn't especially
> unusual, and I'm not one for keeping grand totals of hours observed
> and meteors recorded.  (Why do Americans like statistics so much,
> and treat them as precise figures rather than an approximation to the
> truth.  I've noticed it in astronomy, e.g. person X has made his
> 100,000th variable-star estimate, as well as in sport).
> 
> Also it wasn't clear in many cases whether it was a meteor or some
> long-period flashing satellite or optical counterparts to gamma-ray
> bursters etc..  My strong feeling as a visual observer was that there
> were too many to be all meteors, since there weren't the corresponding
> number of very short, but not point meteors.  A `guesstimate' frequency
> is 1 per 500 meteors, but it could be way off.  I'd have to look through
> many thick volumes to do a count.
> 
> I've not seen a point meteor through a telescope.
> 
> Malcolm
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