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(meteorobs) Angular velocities (was Re: NM South Delta Aquarid ZHR)
Thanks to Malcolm for his comments on the value of estimating apparent angular
velocities for meteors - they shed a new light on the subject for me, and I may
actually consider abandoning the "1-5 Scale" myself after this!
As for Bob's comments regarding meteor radiant distance and elevation, we should
keep in mind that both of these can be extremely important for OTHER types of
analyses, and may in fact be worth logging even apart from speed estimates.
Meteor elevation in particular can be *very* significant for calibrating meteor
magnitudes: based on one soon-to-be-published table I've seen, distance- plus
atmospheric-extinction can add up to a magnitude or more even for meteors that
are surprisingly far from the horizon! (This is contrary to the impression
conveyed on this topic by a 'meteorobs' poster on a previous occasion, BTW.)
Finally, don't forget that for plotted meteors, both elevation and radiant
distance are easily derived from the plot itself: and coincidentally, plotted
meteors are also those for which Malcolm's argument regarding the value of
meteor speed estimates is MOST apropos...
All in all, *I* at least am reevaluating how I log speeds! :)
Clear skies all,
Lew Gramer
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