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Re: (meteorobs) NAMN 2001 - A New Direction



On Sun, 17 December 2000, Mark Davis wrote:

> Over the past year there has been a decline in North American observations.
> Some of this may be the result of less media hype this year as compared to
> 1999, 

Don't forget the fact that the Lyrids, Perseids, Orionids, Leonids, and Geminids had substantial moonlight interference.

but whatever the reason, this decline indicates that there is a need
> for NAMN to spend more time on searching out and helping new observers.

The meteorobs list is a good forum for asking questions. Both the IMO and NAMN websites have plenty of good information. I guess it's a matter of finding the potential recruits. I wrote regular meteor articles for a year for my club newsletter, and still write for the newsletter or e-mail list before readily observable showers. Overwhelmingly, I try to focus my attention on the amateur astronomer who is a potential casual meteor observer. My aim is to provide information so that club members can know when to go out to see the most meteors. Success is limited, but I see this as the potential captive audience. People who are going to be dedicated meteor observers, receptive to training, will find NAMN on their own.

That said, it would be nice to have a printed source like the IMO's _Handbook for Visual Meteor Observations_ widely available in North America.  When I decided to get involved in meteor observing after the 1993 Perseids (realizing I had no clue how a ZHR was calculated), I purchased one of the 1989 editions from Sky Publishing. Even though much of the information is outdated, I still find myself thumbing through it.

--
Wes

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