22 to 24 March 2013, Hannover

This year's meeting took 26 participants to Hanover, where, in a pleasant atmosphere amid "arctic" outside temperatures, interesting lectures on the topic of Meteors / Atmospheric Phenomena took place. Normally, on the day of arrival in previous years, a professional lecture would take place in the evening, but due to the still very wintry conditions in the Republic, the focus was on everyone arriving safely, allowing for a cozy gathering to conclude Friday evening. On Saturday, the interesting lecture program with a focus on Atmospheric Phenomena began. Elmar Schmidt gave an illustrative lecture on the eye as the optics of every observer, revealing some helpful details that can certainly be practically applied in observation practice.

Frank Killich presented his polarization measurements on rainbows and halos. With software, it is possible to analyze the polarization of celestial objects, demonstrated through some examples. The 3D images, which could be viewed with glasses, were impressive. After a coffee break where several topics could be discussed in more detail, Bernd Gährken gave an impressive report on auroras at the North Cape. During a trip with several companions in this region, spectacular phenomena could be observed on some nights. Afterwards, Daniel Fischer presented aurora observations on the Hurtigruten in front of Norway. If you book such a trip, you are always treated to something in the sky.

The lunch break was very vegetarian, but at the Nature Friends House, the pleasant atmosphere prevailed. Afterward, some brave individuals took a short hike in the nearby area. Despite the activity, it didn't get much warmer, but by then the group had already arrived back at the general meeting. The focus was a review of the activities in the past year. There was also a vote on the membership fee for the next year, which remains constant despite cost increases in some items. Then, Anke Hamann and Manfred Heinrich presented a year in review of the observed phenomena and auroras. This was very impressive and showed the diverse facets that can be observed in the sky if one takes the time to look for them. Bernd Gährken, in his lecture on lunar impacts, demonstrated the difficulty of proving such an event. If one has the necessary time and patience, interesting results can be expected. Sirko Molau then provided a review of video observations of meteors in the last year. There was, of course, a significant increase in observed meteors, and the network was continuously expanded. Saturday concluded with two lectures: "2012 Atmospheric Phenomena Year in Review" by Claudia and Wolfgang Hinz in the usual comprehensive form as well as "2012 Year in Review" by Christoph Gerber, who unfortunately could not attend, and whose lecture was held by Reinhard Nitze. Afterward, there was ample opportunity to reflect on the day.

On Sunday, the focus of the presentations was on meteors. Bernd Brinkmann showed how a tool for controlling the log files of MetRec can be used to perform error analysis in the video data. This facilitates the evaluation due to the abundance of data per night. Sirko Molau then showed how potentially new meteor streams can be tracked down from the video data. This could be followed with some interesting examples. Of course, continuous observations during these periods are still necessary to unequivocally identify new streams as such. The last part of the lecture after the coffee break brought the topic of meteorites to the forefront, especially due to the Chelyabinsk event. Frank Killich demonstrated how so-called infrasound observations are conducted. As an example, the sound recording of the Chelyabinsk meteorite was presented, but other "sounds" on Earth are also recorded, such as earthquakes, supersonic booms from the Eurofighter, etc. Ulrich Sperberg summarized the course of this event from the media's point of view, where serious reports were definitely in the minority. Finally, there was a travel report from Ina Rendtel on the Manicouagan meteorite crater in Canada. There were beautiful photos to see, and it was evident once again that you can incorporate an astronomical component into your vacation. After the subsequent vegetarian lunch, this wonderful meeting came to an end. Everyone took inspiration for their hobby with them, and in passing, Hanover bid farewell with a solar halo. We look forward to next year in March in Dessau with hopefully more pleasant temperatures.