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(meteorobs) Re: [SoNewEnglandAstro] NAMN - What a Site!



Doug Stewart <albireo54@yahoo.com>, posted on the groups.yahoo.com
list 'SoNewEnglandAstro' some time back, the following comments:

>The North American Meteor Network (NAMN) - what a fine site! If 
>you're not that familiar with all the things involved with meteor 
>observing, you will be after leaving this excellent site...
>I've saved the NAMN site as a "Favorite Place" - and will be back
>to visit often.


And by the way, that Web site again was... :)

    http://Web.InfoAvedot net/~meteorobs/


Doug, your kudos were warmly welcomed by the authors of the NAMN
Web site, Mark Davis and Cathy Hall! And they come in a long line
of such positive comments - and awards - ever since that site was
established in 1996. It really is fun reading, and very reliable!


This is generally the first site I recommend to folks interested
in learning more about meteor observing. That is, "observing" as
in "observing, recording, and reporting". Yet, it's also a great
site for any folks who would prefer to start out "just watching"
those shooting stars overhead. (After all, that's the way most of
us got interested in recording and reporting in the first place!)



>One caution they make:
>"Note that it is advisable to observe meteors only when the
>limiting magnitude is +5.0 or better."
>
>Good advice, and not just for meteor observing. The problem, with
>so much burgeoning light pollution, is finding the sub 5.0 sites!
>I've certainly noticed the difference being at a dark locale...
>What would appear to be few... meteors at home become dozens...


You are surely right about that, Doug! The general rule is that for
every 1 magnitude deeper you get your "LM", you will roughly DOUBLE
the number of meteors you see per hour... Hard to believe, I know!
Yet it proves true night after night, whenever folks make counts.


And yet, people certainly should NOT let this discourage them from
observing (meteors or anything else) from less-than-perfect sites!
For one thing, on any night of the year, there are ALWAYS at least
a couple of "minor showers" active up there, plus quite a surpris-
ing number of non-shower "sporadic" meteors.

Even from my backyard in Medford MA (5 mi. from DOWNTOWN BOSTON!),
watching on normal "minor-shower" nights, I'll often see up to 7
and sometimes 10 or more meteors in an hour. Of course the trick
(and I know it's a hard one!) is to watch in the near-dawn hours
of the morning. THAT's when the meteors will really start to fly!

(That said, on nights of major showers, it's sometimes worthwhile
to start watching right at dusk! But on a "normal" night, this is
a good way to fall asleep... You may see as few as 1 or 2 of the
faintest streakers in a whole hour that early in the evening. But
what a difference staying up a few hours can make on such nights!)


Last but not least, note that estimating your Limiting Magnitude
is a lost art for many of us: when I first start folks off doing
counts in those IMO Star Count areas on the NAMN site, they more
often than not see NOTHING inside the area, besides the brighter
stars at the vertices... But with very little practice, they will
begin to see more and more and more stars in each area. And when
they finally arrive at a stable number after a few counts, they're
often AMAZED at the Limiting Magnitude that it corresponds to! :)



>By the way, the NAMN Appendix D: Using Star Counts for Sky Limiting
>Magnitude Estimates, can be a very handy tool to print out and use
>as a guide for judging your naked eye visibility without having to
>look up a bunch of faint stars in your catalogs. Their area 4, in
>Gemini, is right over head these nights.

I have some handy 8.5"x11" pages that contain all this info. These
pages contain some larger-format star charts that indicate several
of these IMO Star Count areas per chart - a lot more convenient if
you actually want to find what areas are up at a given time! They
also have the complete tables for turning star counts into LMs. (I
use these pages frequently when I'm doing meteor observing myself.)

The next (first!) time I meet up with folks down at Frosty Drew Obs-
ervatory, or if any 'SNEA' readers are interested enough to have me
postal-mail these to them, I'll happily share a few copies. I also
have print copies of the award-winning, highly readable "NAMN Meteor
Observers Guide" from that site, which I highly recommend for anyone
who enjoys learning new things about our hobby of astronomy!


Clear skies all, and many meteors whenever you watch,

Lew Gramer <owner-meteorobs@jovian.com>
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs


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