eta-Aquariids 2012: visual data quicklook

The graph below shows the ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate), which is the number of meteors an observer would see under a very dark sky with the radiant of the shower in zenith.
ZHR_max = 69 based on 123 eta-Aquariids reported in 40 intervals, assuming population index r = 2.4

The reported intervals are automatically added together into the bins shown above, based on the number of meteors and the distribution of the intervals. For each bin, the following parameters are computed:

• Time is the averaged centre of the reported intervals in Universal Time (UTC);
• Solarlon is the astronomical position of the earth relative to the sun at the above time (equinox J2000.0);
• nINT is the number of reported intervals used;
• nETA is the number of eta-Aquariids observed in those intervals;
• ZHR is the Zenithal Hourly Rate, defined as (1 + sum nETA) / sum(Teff/C) where Teff is the effective observing time and C is the total correction coefficient for limiting magnitude, clouds and zenith correction 1/sin(h_R);
• Particle density is the approximate number of particles (meteoroids) causing meteors brighter than magnitude +6.5 per billion cubic kilometer (i.e., a cube with 1000 km edge length). The ZHR depends on this density (which can be variable) and the velocity (which is roughly constant) of the meteoroid stream. For more information about the computation method, see the references at the bottom.

Data has been received from 12 observers in 9 countries. Thank you for your efforts!

Spatial distribution of observers

Note: click on the map for an interactive version.