What is the limiting magnitude often mentioned in reports?
The limiting magnitude is a measure of sky brightness and indicates the faintest star an observer can see. This directly affects how many faint meteors an observer will see. Poor limiting magnitudes are most often caused by light pollution and the moon. You will often see limiting magnitude abbreviated as “LM.” It is usually determined by counting the number of stars within the boundaries of certain areas of sky, laid out by the IMO. For more information, see Chapter 2 of the NAMN Guide.
