Preparations for the watch

At your desk

Plot the actual radiant position(s) onto the star charts you will be using, taking into account the radiant drift which can be looked up in the Shower Calendar. Check the times of twilight, radiant elevation and moonrise/set and plan your watch according to these circumstances.

At your observing site

A good observer has a pair of vigilant eyes, as the fast and often faint meteors require quick reflexes and good perception. Lack of Vitamin-A as well as the side effects of alcohol and nicotine negatively affect visual perception. Smokers have to realize that their eyes will not dark adapt completely, even if they stop smoking for a while.

Regarding your dark adaption you should avoid blinding lights before setting off to observe and you should always:

• use your red torch
• allow plenty of time for your eyes to fully dark-adapt (at least 20 minutes from a well-lit room).

Carefully choose your observing direction:

• It should not be covered by trees, etc., or illuminated by artificial lights or the Moon.
• The center of the field of view should be at 50° to 70° elevation.
• Do not look directly at the radiant. A distance of between 20° to 40° away is optimal. Report the center of the field in your notes (cf. Section 5.1).

Then arrange your equipment according to the direction chosen. If you use a tape recorder, test whether it is working correctly, otherwise you will lose all your data. You will also need to be familiar with its use in complete darkness. Before you start to observe spend some minutes in memorizing:

• the radiant position you plotted onto the chart,
• the magnitude of several stars within your field of view for comparison with the meteors (magnitudes are indicated on the charts),
• the fields for determining the limiting magnitude (see Section 5.2).