Results of the AKM Video Meteor Network - April 2001
====================================================

Looking back at the weather in April, there is not much positive to report
on. In Germany it was the third month in a row with unusually poor weather.
At many places we had frequent snow falls until mid-April! It was only thanks
to a few clear nights at the end of April that the negative records of
February and March were not beaten. What's interesting is that the conditions
differed quite siginificantly from site to site. Whereas I, for example, had
hardly any completely clear night and accumulated only 25 hours of effective
observing time in 8 nights, there was Joerg who managed to observe as much
as 65 hours in 12 nights only 200 km to the north-west. 

By the way, the moment when we will rename our network is approaching. In
this months we could welcome two new observers in our midst. Orlando Benitez
Sanchez has been observing from the Canary islands since fall last year, and
Steven Evans from Great Britain, who took part in a number of successful
Leonid campaigns, has also joined our effort.
Ilkka Yrjola, on the other hand, will have to take a break in the next few 
months as the night sky is not getting dark anymore at his northern 
observing site in Finland.

It seems we will get used to new records presented to us by Rob McNaught in
Australia. Even though he experienced a hard disc crash last month, which
resulted in a loss of two observing nights, he managed to record more than
3000 meteors in April. Everyone of us could become envy about these 
figures. :-)

In the end the summary of April was quite encouraging thanks to the large 
number of cameras. Never before we had 10 stations in regular operation.
In all nights but one there were at least one camera system active, and the
455 hours of effective observing time are a great result. Even if we take
out the observations from Rob for a moment, we captured more meteors than 
last April, which saw much better weather.


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

Code     Name      Place            Camera          FOV    LM  Nights Time Meteors
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR  Benitez  S. Maspalomas   GRACAVIS (1.4/50)  20 dg  8 mag  10  55.0 h   135 
EVAST  Evans    Little Thurlow  EMILY (1.8/28)     36 dg  5 mag   1   3.0 h     1
KOSDE  Koschny  Noordwijkerhout ICC4 (0.85/25)     25 dg  6 mag   7  40.1 h    62
KNOAN  Knoefel  Duesseldorf     VIDEOMET (0.75/50) 20 dg  7 mag   2  10.2 h    11 
MCNRO  McNaught Coonabarabran   SSO1 (1.2/85)      13 dg  9 mag  20 179.8 h  3217  
MOLSI  Molau    Aachen          AVIS (2.0/35)      40 dg  5 mag   8  25.3 h    55
NITMI  Nitschke Dresden         VK1 (0.75/50)      20 dg  8 mag   5  24.3 h    48
RENJU  Rendtel  Marquardt       CARMEN (1.8/28)    28 dg  5 mag   7  36.8 h    35
STRJO  Strunk   Leopoldshoehe   FAMOS (2.0/28)     45 dg  5 mag  12  65.0 h   167
YRJIL  Yrjola   Kuusankosi      NONAME (2.0/35)    35 dg  6 mag   3  16.2 h    13
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall                                                          29 455.7 h  3744


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

Apr    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -    -    -    -    -    -   2.4  7.1   -    -    -    -   1.7   -   6.5
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   6.4  2.9   -    -
KNOAN   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   3.7  6.5   -    -    -
MCNRO  9.5  9.6   -   9.7  9.7 10.1   -    -   8.9   -  10.1  9.4  9.6 10.1 10.1
MOLSI  6.8  5.4   -   0.3   -    -    -    -    -    -   1.6   -    -    -    -
NITMI  5.0  5.0   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
RENJU  7.8   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  8.6  6.8   -    -    -    -   8.2   -    -    -   2.4  7.6  5.2   -    -
YRJIL   -   7.0   -    -    -    -    -    -    -   4.3   -    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   37.7 33.8   -  10.0  9.7 10.1 10.6  7.1  8.9  4.3 17.8 29.9 19.4 10.1 16.6

Apr    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -   8.0   -    -   5.0  5.8  6.8   -   6.9   -    -    -   4.8   -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   3.0   -    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -   6.6  8.0  7.6  2.3  6.3   -    -    -    -    -    -
KNOAN   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MCNRO  9.0  9.9  9.9  9.0  2.6   -   1.6   -    -    -  10.1 10.6 10.3   -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   1.0  1.0   -   6.1   -   3.1
NITMI   -    -    -   4.2   -    -    -   5.1  5.0   -    -    -    -    -    -
RENJU   -    -    -   6.9   -    -    -    -   4.2   -   5.7   -   4.2  2.6  5.4
STRJO   -    -   3.2   -   3.2  4.0  5.8  5.1   -    -   4.9   -    -    -    -
YRJIL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   4.9   -    -    -    -    -    -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    9.0 17.9 13.1 20.1 17.4 17.8 21.8 12.5 27.3  1.0 21.7 10.6 28.4  2.6  8.5


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

Apr    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -    -    -    -    -    -    1    4    -    -    -    -    5    -   11
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    6    5    -    -
KNOAN   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    4    7    -    -    -
MCNRO 126  123    -  162  140   88    -    -   16    -  115  154  188  226  194
MOLSI  18    3    -    1    -    -    -    -    -    -    4    -    -    -    -
NITMI  11    6    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
RENJU   1    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  10   10    -    -    -    -    8    -    -    -    4   24   20    -    -
YRJIL   -   10    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    2    -    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   166  152    -  163  140   88    9    4   16    2  127  191  218  226  205

Apr    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -   15    -    -   17   10   24    -   16    -    -    -   32    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    -    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -   14   19    7    2    9    -    -    -    -    -    -
KNOAN   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MCNRO 231  262  257  284    4    -   21    -    -    -  242  217  167    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    5    5    -   12    -    7
NITMI   -    -    -    9    -    -    -   10   12    -    -    -    -    -    -
RENJU   -    -    -   14    -    -    -    -    2    -    7    -    4    2    5
STRJO   -    -   14    -   12   38   14    5    -    -    8    -    -    -    -
YRJIL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    -    -    -    -    -    -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   231  277  271  307   47   67   66   17   40    5  262  217  216    2   12

Sirko Molau, 2001/05/10