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Re: (meteorobs) Re: Best field center...what say you?

>>But suppose you're a very casual observer: you don't care much where the
meteors come from -- you just want to see a good show.  Would your advice
(i.e., to look 0-45 degrees from the primary radiant) still hold?<<

I'm not Bob, but I personally wouldn't center my view on the primary radiant or within about 20 deg of it. The main reason would be is that shower members closer to the radiant would be very short. The more dimmer meteors could easily go unnoticed. You would essentially have a "dead spot" within your vision except for the more brighter meteors.

If you were a casual observer and wasn't interested in recording etc, I'd at least center my view at an altitude above the horizon between 50 - 70 deg. You can see more within this slice of the sky than say straight up. If you look too low, you have an extinction problem, as well as part of your vision covering the ground instead of the sky. Then within this region, I'd look away from any moonlight or any distant city light glow. I've also seen some good displays on the opposite side of the sky with a rising radiant. Alignment for shower identification might be iffy from such a location, but the show should be good. Due to the various conditions, you can have different best field centers at different locations for various reasons.
GeoZay