[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

(meteorobs) Zay #1

In a message dated 99-06-24 Mr. Zay wrote:

Bob<<
  Speaking of insights were there not two founders of NAMN?
 Oh yes, I recall now, you have forgotton about that other fellow.<<

>>>Originally....no....just one and that was me.  I  had it started and
organized with people sending me reports  2 or 3 months before mark came
onto aol. When he did he asked if I wanted to start a meteor organization
with him. Being polite I let him in as a co founder and never elaborated
that I already had it up and going. Originally it was known  as the Meteor
Network.<<<<


I just spent some time looking through the fairly extensive collection of
meteor books and journals I have here and found no reference to such a
group.

Was this group on the aol message boards only, or did they go outside and
observe?

If so, were these observations archived? I assume that was done by you, and
is available upon request for all of us to see?

Were these reports sent to the IMO? If so, I should be able to locate them
fairly quickly if you will provide the reference as long as it wasn't before
1989 when I joined. Btw, when was it you first joined IMO?

However, I did find a reference to the group known as the North American
Meteor Network. In WGN, 24:1-2, February-April 1996 there is a letter "The
North American Meteor Network" written by Mark Davis. I know you have read
it, but for the rest of the folks here who may not have seen it, I reprint
it below:

<begin quote>
As relatively new members to the electronic community, George
Zay and I  accidentally met each other over America OnLine. Since George Zay
lives on the west coast of the United States and I live on the east, we
decided to combine our efforts and coordinate our meteor observing sessions.
After a couple of successful attempts, we wondered why not try to coordinate
many observers at the same time over the entire North American continent? To
our knowledge, this had never been attempted before.

To accomplish this, we created the North American Meteor Network (NAMN) in
June 1995. The Network has three main purposes: to recruit amateurs into the
ranks of meteor observing; once recruited, provide guidance, instructions
and training in the methods of meteor observing; and finally, to coordinate
as many North American observations as possible to insure extensive coverage
of sporadic and meteor shower activity.

Since dedicated meteor observers are few in number, recruitment of observers
is one of the primary goals of the NAMN. Anyone with an interest in meteors
has been welcome to "join" the Network. The Network is very informal with no
membership applications, dues or monthly journal. We primarily use email for
communication among our members, but coordinated meteor watch notices and
data reporting is also done by letter and telephone.

Results of all of our observations are published in the North American
Meteor Network Newsletter which is produced after each coordinated observing
session. A guide for beginners starting out in the field of meteor observing
has just been published and is available electronically. Recently, member
Gary Kronk created a World Wide Web home page and continues to maintain it
for the Network. All of these materials have been made available to
interested persons free of charge.

We have formed a what we call a partnership with both the Association of
Lunar & Planetary Observers (ALPO) and the International Meteor Organization
(IMO). The ALPO Meteors Section is the most active group in the United
States and serves as the location where all of the data we collect is
archived. The ALPO Recorder then assembles our data, publishes it and
forwards it to the IMO. This insures our data is available to the
international community for research purposes.

Currently, our membership stands at about seventy-five people. Not all are
active observers since many only have an interest in meteors. But, those who
do observe are being taught the methods put forth by the IMO. Since June
1995, the North American Meteor Network has contributed over 5,000 meteors
in more than 400 hours of observing.
<end quote>

In hindsight, maybe I should have given you the same amount of credit you
are now trying to give me. By the way, those 75 members on March 2, 1996
have now grown to over 180 today!

Mark




To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html
References: