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

December had different faces with respect to the weather. Even though the
camera network has reached quite an impressive geographic extention, we
could obtain almost no observation in the first few days. After that, central
Europe faced a period of clear weather with an interruption just at the Geminid
maximum. During the Christmas vacations skies cleared again at several
observing sites, such that we got full coverage of meteor activity until the
end of the year.

With Javor Kac of Slovenia we could welcome another observer in the AKM
network last month, who regularly monitors the night sky with his Mintron
camera. Since both Stephen Evans and Ilkka Yrjola observed with two cameras
in December, we got data of 14 cameras operated by 9 observers, even though
Steve Quirk of Australia could not observe because of consistently poor
weather. We also did not get data from the Canaries so far.

December finalizes a year, which was again more successful for the AKM network
than the previous ones. Already in 2002 we got a remarkable coverage of 93%
with an overall of 340 observing nights. Last year, however, we observed in
355 nights (97%). In other words, there were only ten nights in which none of
the network members could observe, which can partly be explained by the unusual
pleasant summer in central Europe. The effective observing time increased by
more than a third from 6,800 to 9,300 hours (25.5 hours per day on average),
which is almost ten times as much as in the first year of the AKM network.
The overall number of meteors was almost the same as in 2002, though. Reasons
are, that many major shower became a victim of the weather and the Moon,
that the Leonid storms are history, and that most of the new cameras without
image intensifier are inferior to the old intensified cameras.

A detailled analysis of 2003 will follow. I would like to take the opportunity
and thank the observers for their commitment. I'm looking forward to further
prosper of the AKM network in 2004.


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

Code    Name        Place           Camera         FOV    LM Nights Time Meteors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST Evans       Moreton       EMILY (1.8/28)    36 dg  4 mag   2    7.6 h   84
                                RF1 (1.2/12)      20 dg  4 mag   2   15.1 h   24 
KACJA Kac         Kostanjevec   METKA (0.8/8)     42 dg  2 mag  11   68.1 h  111
KOSDE Koschny     Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25)    25 dg  6 mag   7   59.4 h  276
MOLSI Molau       Seysdorf      AVIS (2.0/35)     40 dg  6 mag  19  120.6 h  573
                                AKM1 (0.85/25)    32 dg  6 mag  10   66.9 h  372
RENJU Rendtel     Marquardt     CARMEN (1.8/28)   28 dg  5 mag  15   89.1 h  423
SLAST Slavec      Ljubljana     KAYAK1 (1.8/28)   50 dg  4 mag  16  147.8 h  389
STRJO Strunk      Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/8)   42 dg  4 mag  22  142.9 h  442
                                MINCAM3 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag   6   46.1 h  155
UEBST Ueberschaer Aachen        MIMO (0.95/25)    13 dg  4 mag  15   81.4 h  136
YRJIL Yrjola      Kuusankoski   FINEXCAM (0.8/6)  38 dg  4 mag  14   88.2 h  359
                                NONAME (2.0/35)   38 dg  4 mag   1    2.0 h   11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum                                                             29  935.2 h 3355


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

Dec    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   6.7  0.9   - 
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
KACJA   -    -    -    -    -    -    -   6.1  1.1   -    -   9.9   -   2.4   -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -  10.1 11.6  7.7  9.3  1.5   -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI  1.9   -    -    -    -   3.7  9.3 10.9  9.9 11.2  3.0  8.9   -   2.1  0.8
       0.8   -    -    -    -   2.2 11.9 12.9 13.2 11.7  2.6  9.8   -   1.4  0.4
RENJU   -    -    -    -    -   3.9  4.8  2.9 12.6 12.3   -   1.5   -   0.3  5.7
SLAST   -   6.0   -    -    -    -  12.5 12.5  3.5   -    -   6.5   -   9.5  8.4
STRJO  6.6  9.0   -    -    -  10.1 13.4 13.4 13.4  6.3  1.0  1.5  0.7  5.6   - 
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -  13.0 13.5  6.8   -    -    -    -    -
UEBST   -    -    -    -    -    -  10.3 12.7 13.9  5.2   -    -    -    -    -
YRJIL   -    -    -    -   6.8  2.0  0.5 14.2  7.0   -    -   8.4  1.3   -    -
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   2.0   -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    9.3 15.0   -    -   6.8 32.0 74.3106.3 97.4 55.0  6.6 48.5  8.7 22.2 15.3

Dec    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 
        -    -    -    -    -  10.3   -    -    -    -    -    -   4.8   -    -    -
KACJA   -   6.1  5.2  6.1  8.7   -    -    -   5.0  7.8  9.7   -    -    -    -    -
KOSDE   -   8.4 10.8   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -    -   3.2  3.2  3.2 13.3  7.5  5.3 13.3  7.7  2.2   -    -    - 
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
RENJU  1.7   -  13.4   -    -    -   9.5 12.4   -    -   1.1  5.1   -   1.9   -    -
SLAST  8.5  9.4  7.5 11.1  3.3   -    -  12.5 12.5 12.0 12.1   -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   -  10.4 13.6   -    -   5.6 10.9  0.5   -    -   3.3  3.5  2.9  3.1  1.6  6.5
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   4.1  4.6  4.1
UEBST   -  10.5 14.5   -   0.2  0.2   -   3.3   -    -   1.1  1.1  1.7  5.4  0.3  1.0
YRJIL  6.0   -    -   0.8 11.0   -  10.1   -    -    -    -    -   4.8   -  11.5  3.8 
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   16.2 44.8 65.0 18.0 26.4 19.3 33.7 42.0 25.0 25.1 40.6 17.4 16.4 14.5 18.0 15.4


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

Dec    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   72   12    - 
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
KACJA   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    4    2    -    -   36    -   16    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -   43   61   34   40    3    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI   6    -    -    -    -   17   58   37   55   57    2   46    -   19   12 
        2    -    -    -    -   14   83   62   87   71    6   26    -   16    5
RENJU   -    -    -    -    -   48   11   16   51   51    -    5    -    5   30
SLAST   -    4    -    -    -    -   23   20    3    -    -    2    -   28   20
STRJO  17   38    -    -    -   36   42   43   47   15    6    5    5   26    - 
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -   55   56   12    -    -    -    -    -
UEBST   -    -    -    -    -    -   13   16   21   17    -    -    -    -    -
YRJIL   -    -    -    -   42    6    4   54   21    -    -  102    8    -    -
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   11    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    25   42    -    -   42  164  295  341  383  226   14  233   85  122   67

Dec    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 
        -    -    -    -    -   21    -    -    -    -    -    -    3    -    -    -
KACJA   -    6   12   10    7    -    -    -    5    6    7    -    -    -    -    -
KOSDE   -   63   32    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -    -    3   10   34   89   19   16   36   55    2    -    -    -
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
RENJU   3    -   76    -    -    -   68   38    -    -    2   13    -    6    -    -
SLAST  44   43   19   45    2    -    -   41   33   35   27    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   -   38   38    -    -   12   22    2    -    -    8    8    7    4    6   17
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    5   12   15
UEBST   -   18   24    -    2    1    -    5    -    -    2    1    4    9    1    2
YRJIL  17    -    -    3   14    -   34    -    -    -    -    -    6    -   33   15
        -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    64  168  201   58   28   44  158  175   57   57   82   77   22   24   52   49

Sirko Molau, 2004/01/20