Setting up a Fireball Camera

Camera in now in operation most clear nights.
Long term plan will be to have the camera operation linked to a weather station which will monitor sky brightness and cloud cover to determine when the camera is switched on/off.
The camera can record down to maken eye visibility if so required and, within the FOV available, usually captures a few sporadic meteors per night.

Here's a bright one captured at 02:39 on the 26th March through Draco:






Michael.

Wow, awesome work Michael.

Nice capture Michael
Have you decided upon a fixed direction and elevation as of yet? It’s excellent to have a 12mm system in operation. Armagh Observatory use 3.8mm and two 6mm lens systems. I83 Observatory has two 8mm lens system; Ochra South Observatory (Mr. Phil Lardner) has a single wide angle 180 degrees system, Kingsland Observatory has all sky coverage (I think using banks of 6mm lens). Mr. Robert Cobain based in Northern Ireland has a single 6mm system. It would be most useful to link these systems together in ordered cooperation.

Clear skies
Mike

Mike,
I am in communication with Tolis in Armagh Observatory re this.
He is advising on camera angle and elevation.
We are using this bright meteor to further refine the camera position.
Regards,
Michael.

That’s great Michael
Speaking in approximate terms your observatory is 140 km straight-line distance from Armagh Observatory, 10 degrees azimuth. My Observatory is 97 km straight-line distance from Armagh Observatory, 6 degrees azimuth. These are good baselines to work with; it will be interesting to see the results of this coordinated work over the coming weeks and indeed long term. Looking forward to supporting Tolis as best as possible as he is dedicated to excellent research in this area.

Clear skies
Mike

The meteor camera is up and running for some time now.
Below is a link to the data collected for October 2011 from I87 Astroshot Observatory.
www.astroshot.com/Meteors/2011/I87-Meteors-2011-10-V1.csv
Despite the bad weather, 80 meteors were recorded varying in magnitude from +2.9 to -2.3
Regards,
Michael.