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Re: (meteorobs) Too quick to do science
Asaf, you've just asked probably the two most important questions
we could talk about on this list:
1) Who does an amateur meteor report help?
2) What *must* I to log to make my reports useful?
The answers to (1) are many and various, but suffice it to say that
many of the most significant discoveries in the history of meteorics
(and so of planetary science in general!) were based on amateur data.
Keep in mind: for meteors, the "sampling instrument" is really the
entire surface of earth... Only many, many amateurs, all using the
same methods and observing regularly can cover this measuring area!
To read more on amateur contributions to meteors, browse the Web:
http://Web.InfoAvedot net/~meteorobs/guidechap1.html
http://www.imodot net/imoinfo.html
http://web99.arc.nasadot gov/~leonid/watch.html
http://hcs.harvarddot edu/~stahr/info/perseid_faq.html
As for question (2), here is the quick answer of EVERYTHING YOU MUST
RECORD to make your meteor observing scientifically useful:
o Date and times (observing start and stop times to the minute)
o Limiting Magnitude (preferrably measured with IMO method)
o Magnitude of each meteor seen
o Shower association (if any) of each meteor seen
These are "bare basics", but which just by themselves are extremely
useful to people trying to reduce and analyze your data!
Clear skies, Asaf, and keep asking the good questions,
Lew
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