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(meteorobs) Re: Question about LM (Newbie to meteor reporting)



Dustin,

You should indeed use adverted vision when making star counts. These
counts should be slow sweeps of the area and not a concentrated effort
on one small spot to "pull in" the faintest stars that one can see. My
star counts probably average 30 seconds for per area. Of course this
also depends on the size of each area. Large areas such as Pegasus and
Bootes will take a bit longer. Area 19 between Ursa Minor and Draco is
one of my favorites as it is compact and takes all of 15 seconds to
count. 

Hint: if you are ever in a meteor rut where you have not seen one in
quite a while then start a star count. Believe me I tend to see meteors
during at least half of my star counts which necessitates the
abandonment of the current count and restarting after the meteor data is
recorded.

Clear Skies!

Bob Lunsford



Dustin Brown wrote:
> 
> Now that some of the shower activity has passed I thought I'd pose a
> newbie question I had when observing the Leonids.
> When counting stars to determine Limiting Magnitude  (LM):   Should an
> observer use averted vision when counting the dimmer stars?   For
> example, if I know where a dim star should be I can spend time looking
> around that area till my averted vision pulls it in.  Other stars a
> little brighter might not require averted vision, but they go in and out
> of visibility to me.   At what point would people suggest I stop
> counting?
> Thanks for any guidelines/opinions/ideas,
> Dustin Brown
> Oregon USA
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