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(meteorobs) In reply to Mike Linnolt's ''My high rates.''
Mike,
I am not exactly an expert on meteor numbers and perception, but
because I often observe in a group, together with Javor and Jure I have
noticed some things about observer perception.
1. The number of meteors is very dependent on your ability to see
meteors far out of your center of field of view. I can see meteors down
to +2 magnitude very far out, I see even fainter flashes far out, but
I usually discard them as they are probably Hallucinids caused by
a star near the edge of my FOV.
2. The ability to percieve movement - if you can see short meteors,
say only 1 or 2 degrees long, your number will rise significantly as
many faint +5 and +6 meteors are short. I see these regularly, but
again, I note only the ones I see dead-on, so there is no doubt whether
it was a real meteor or no.
3. The ability to see faint meteors and possibly see them far out.
I think this is the rate determining factor for most observers, as
most of the meteors are faint. Sporadics have r = 3.5 meaning
there are 3.5 meteors for every meteor one magnitude brighter.
Now, it doesn't take a great matematichian to figure out that there
are tons of faint meteors. If you can see these, your rates explode!
Ok, these are some things I've noticed, but I'm no expert on perception
and I suppose the more experienced observers here on meteorobs
have lotsa things to say! I'll bet Jure and Javor have some comments
as well.. :)
Clear skies!
Jure
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