Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - April 2003
====================================================

The unusually comfortable weather persisted also in April. The mix of sunshine
and rainshowers April is well-known for was mostly absent. At many
sites, there were sometimes temperatures like in summer and there was no rain
for several weeks. Thus, some AKM observers (Joerg Strunk and me) managed to 
obtain long observing series again. Other observers did not send in their
data (Detlef Koschny is currently reconstructing his camera) or were abroad
for a longer time and could observe in only a few nights (Juergen Rendtel 
and Ulrich Sperberg). On the other hand, we received a few observations from
Ondrejov again, so that in the end all April nights could be covered.

Based on the statistics of the AKM network I checked, whether my 
subjective feeling is right, that there are unusually many clear nights this 
year. There are complete observing series from January to April between 
2000 and 2003 by Juergen Rendtel an me:

Jan-Apr MOLSI RENJU
-----------------------------------------------------
2000 34 nights / 201 hours 37 nights / 200 hours
2001 39 nights / 188 hours 34 nights / 216 hours
2002 43 nights / 296 hours 45 nights / 302 hours
2003 61 nights / 437 hours 49 nights / 371 hours
-----------------------------------------------------

It can be seen that I could indeed collect about 50% more observing 
nights than in previous years so far. In Juergens data the increase is not
that dramatic, but also his 2003 statistics are clearly better than in 
previous years.

Between the end of April and mid-May I tested two 1/2" c-mount lenses in
connection with my Mintron camera: the 3.8mm and the 6mm objective lens from
Computar. Both lenses are of interest to meteor observers, because they are
very fast (f/0.8) and yield a large field of view. I was curious which
of these two lenses would be better suited for meteor observation. The
results will be presented in another contribution shortly.

Last but not least, there were as always a number of hard-working observers
outside Germany. Stephen Evans and Orlando Benitez-Sanchez obtained
only a few observing nights, but Ilkka Yrjola recorded another 11 observing
nights before his summer break up there in the North. So far he collected
remarkable 59 nights / 439 hours in 2003, which is almost as much as our 
Australian record observer Steve Quirk (69 nights / 554 hours).


1. Observers
============

Code    Name       Place           Camera          FOV    LM Nights Time Meteors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOT Benitez-S. Maspalomas    TIMES4 (1.4/50)    20 dg  4 mag   3  21.9 h    23
EVAST Evans      Moreton       EMILY (1.8/28)     36 dg  5 mag   1   5.0 h    21
MOLSI Molau      Seysdorf      AVIS (2.0/35)      40 dg  5 mag  19 108.4 h   306
                               MINCAM1 (0.8/6)    75 dg  3 mag   3  18.4 h    26
NITMI Nitschke   Dresden       VK1 (0.75/50)      20 dg  8 mag   5  24.9 h    30
QUIST Quirk      Mudgee        SSO-WAT1 (0.85/25) 13 dg  5 mag  18 162.5 h   345
RENJU Rendtel    Marquardt     AKM2 (0.85/25)     32 dg  6 mag  12  71.4 h   236
SPEUL Sperberg   Salzwedel     AKM1 (0.85/25)     32 dg  6 mag   7  50.5 h   150
STORO Stork      Ondrejov      OND1 (1.4/50)      22 dg  8 mag   5  28.3 h    89
STRJO Strunk     Leopondshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6)    55 dg  3 mag  18 108.8 h   142
YRJIL Yrjola     Kuusankoski   NONAME (2.0/35)    38 dg  6 mag  11  61.8 h   104
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum                                                             30 651.9 h  1463


2. Observing Times (h)
======================

April  01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR  7.7   -   7.8   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -   3.6   -   1.9  4.7   -    -    -   5.6   -   8.2  7.7  8.1
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
NITMI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   5.0   -    -
QUIST   -    -    -    -   9.2  8.6 10.0  6.7  7.8   -    -   8.5   -  10.1  8.6
RENJU   -    -   8.5   -   6.5  4.7  2.1  7.9   -   7.5  2.7  7.2  6.2  6.4   -
SPEUL   -    -   6.6   -   7.8  7.0  7.7  8.0   -   6.7   -    -    -    -    -
STORO   -    -    -    -    -   4.0   -   6.4   -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   -    -    -    -    -   8.4  8.5  8.4  0.5  4.1  2.5  5.1  8.1  8.0  7.9
YRJIL  7.4  7.4   -    -    -   7.3   -    -    -    -   6.3   -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   15.1  7.4 22.9  3.6 23.5 41.9 33.0 37.4  8.3 18.3 17.1 20.8 27.5 32.2 24.6

April  16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   6.4   -    -    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -   5.0   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI  8.1  8.1  1.5  7.7  7.9  3.6  7.3  4.6  7.5  2.1   -   4.6   -   5.6   -
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   7.0  6.6   -   4.8   -    -    -
NITMI   -   5.0   -    -   4.9   -    -    -   5.0   -    -    -    -   5.0   -
QUIST  9.5   -  10.1  8.0  8.9 10.1   -    -  10.0 10.0   -    -  10.4  8.0  8.0
RENJU  6.4   -    -    -   5.3   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
SPEUL   -   6.7   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STORO   -    -    -    -    -   7.2  7.2  3.5   -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  7.9  7.8   -    -   7.5  5.0  7.4  7.3   -    -    -    -    -   3.6  0.8
YRJIL   -    -    -   5.6  3.5  5.0  5.2   -   4.9  4.8  4.4   -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   31.9 27.6 11.6 21.3 38.0 30.9 32.1 15.4 34.4 29.9  4.4  9.4 10.4 22.2  8.8


3. Results (Meteors)
====================

April  01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR  10    -    3    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -   18    -   12   20    -    -    -   15    -   15   17   17
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
NITMI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    5    -    -
QUIST   -    -    -    -   12   13   23   16   23    -    -   13    -   27    9
RENJU   -    -   32    -   43   27   13   31    -   19    7   13   12   11    -
SPEUL   -    -   33    -   27   25   20   23    -    8    -    -    -    -    -
STORO   -    -    -    -    -    3    -   13    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   -    -    -    -    -   13   14   14    2    2    4    3   12    7   11
YRJIL  12    3    -    -    -   12    -    -    -    -    8    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    22    3   68   18   82  105   90   97   25   29   34   29   44   62   37

April  16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   10    -    -    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -   21    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI  13    9    5   22   27   10   39   18   24    1    -   15    -    9    -
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    9   13    -    4    -    -    -
NITMI   -    4    -    -    6    -    -    -    5    -    -    -    -   10    -
QUIST  16    -   20    3   11   26    -    -   21   32    -    -   17   33   30
RENJU   7    -    -    -   21    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
SPEUL   -   14    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STORO   -    -    -    -    -   23   33   17    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   9    9    -    -    9    5   10   13    -    -    -    -    -    3    2
YRJIL   -    -    -    7    9    3   13    -   14   13   10    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    45   36   25   32   83   67  116   48   73   69   10   19   17   55   32

Sirko Molau, 2003/05/21