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Re: (meteorobs) Observations 21-28/08/2003
Hi Geert and all,
> According to the IMO working list, alpha-Aurigids are only active from
> August 25th... but since 2 sure members of this shower were seen before
> this date, I reported this shower on the forms a bit earlier... Tho I guess
> I shouldn't do that, and simply count them as sporadics? Comments are welcome.
I think that's fine. It's not needed to be horribly strict on the activity
limits. However, please note that are no "sure shower members". Such a decision
can be made with knowledge of the orbit of the meteoroid, but not alone on
the 2-dimensional information we have from a single location. Meteor
membership is a statistical matter. The best-fitting meteor could be an
accidental sporadic, and one which barely fits the radiant could be a
mis-plot as well.
The thinking of this one Aurigid is the one and I want it in the database
is not appropriate. All we make here with visual observations are
STATISTICAL RESULTS. Only the ful ensemble of DECISIONS about SHOWER
MEMBERSHIP give us a clue to the activity of the shower. Individual
meteors do not tell a tiny bit about the shower - ten meteors barely
give an indication even.
Forgive me this straight answer; I feel some notes are necessary to
prevent this thinking in individual meteors.
Best wishes,
Rainer
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