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Re: (meteorobs) Murphy's Law - Leonids 2001




George Gliba <GLIBA@grovx3.gsfc.nasadot gov> writes:
>Chris Crawford recently wrote of how Murphy hit him. I'm sure many others
>have stories about Murphy's Law striking...
>...
>notebook with paper and pencils in case my tape recorder decided to die. 
>This is all proof that it pays to have a back up, and that Murphy's Law
>must be kept in mind during important events like the 2001 Leonid Storm.

George makes an excellent point here! I had only one "new" observing
tool with me during my visit to China: a digital data recorder, with
automatic time stamping and about 3 hours' total recording memory.

To ensure that this thing was useable, I began using it two nights
before the projected "storm night" - this is also a great plug for the
importance of getting out to record BEFORE (and also after) the peak
night of a major shower, by the way! Not only does this practice make
your total data much more useful, but you have a chance to "vet" any
observing tools or techniques you are using before the "big night". :)


However with Murphy in mind, I did not plan to depend on my shiny new
digital recorder: I also brought my trusty old (analog) tape recorder,
as well as a clipboard with many paper sheets, AND a tape paper roll!
(This latter is the kind used in adding machines: such paper rolls are
actually a method recommended by IMO for manual recording during high
activity, by holding them in your hand and folding the paper over line
by line: this allows the observer to record full meteor information
using a pencil, without their eyes ever having to leave the sky.)

Anyway, during the "critical hours" of the storm, sure enough I needed
BOTH my digital recorder and the tape recorder: my "3 hours" of memory
ran out at exactly 19:20 UT, and I was left having to record on good
old fashioned tape for the rest of this breathtaking night! Of course,
I'm still VERY glad I brought the digital recorder: With the digital
scanning feature plus the automatic timestamps, I found transcribing
the data BEFORE 19:20 to be far, far easier than transcribing the data
AFTERWARD. And in fact, I was able to get in an express report on my
pre-19:20 data within 24 hours, while I am still struggling to get
together my full report with all of that night's data in it...

As George says, it always pays to be really prepared. :)  And having
watched my DMS colleagues in action, I am now inspired to be yet more
prepared for my NEXT major shower - the GEMINIDS, in JUST TWO WEEKS!

Clear skies all,
Lew Gramer
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