Meteor Camera

[tooth_dr]

Here is my first meteor capture from last night with my meteor camera setup.  I captured six meteors in total!

 

https://streamable.com/u6wp8

 

 

Edited January 28, 2019 by tooth_dr

[tooth_dr]

Edited January 28, 2019 by tooth_dr

[Helen]

What software/setup are you using Adam?  I picked up a meteor cam set-up from ABS before Christmas (mostly for the watec video cam in it which I'm planning on using for lunar impacts in the future) and it would fun to try for meteors too ?

Helen

[tooth_dr]

4 minutes ago, Helen said:

What software/setup are you using Adam?  I picked up a meteor cam set-up from ABS before Christmas (mostly for the watec video cam in it which I'm planning on using for lunar impacts in the future) and it would fun to try for meteors too ?

Helen

Very good Helen. I bought UFOCapture V2 which seems to be the preferred choice for capturing meteors. It’s not cheap at ¥20k but can be used on multiple PCs at the one site and I have 2 cameras. 

[Helen]

18 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Very good Helen. I bought UFOCapture V2 which seems to be the preferred choice for capturing meteors. It’s not cheap at ¥20k but can be used on multiple PCs at the one site and I have 2 cameras. 

Thanks ?  looks good! I need to work out where I can mount the camera.  It is housed in a standard security camera housing (long version not dome!), so I need to check it is water tight if pointed straight up!  But it has a dew protection system, so I'm hopeful for some nice views (mostly of clouds I fear though  ? ).  I suppose I could test over the next few days by watching snow storms ? 

Helen

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, Helen said:

Thanks ?  looks good! I need to work out where I can mount the camera.  It is housed in a standard security camera housing (long version not dome!), so I need to check it is water tight if pointed straight up!  But it has a dew protection system, so I'm hopeful for some nice views (mostly of clouds I fear though  ? ).  I suppose I could test over the next few days by watching snow storms ? 

Helen

Mine is in a heated standard cctv enclosure too. It’s at 45 degrees and so far so good. I’ve one at 5mm and it’s ok. But I think much lower and the housing interferes with the FOV. 

[jam1e1]

good effort! i find my Oculus only captures the brighter meteors, whilst more FoV there is a trade off of sensitivity (if thats the right term!). I have thought about doing video setup too

[tooth_dr]

On 02/02/2019 at 14:35, jam1e1 said:

good effort! i find my Oculus only captures the brighter meteors, whilst more FoV there is a trade off of sensitivity (if thats the right term!). I have thought about doing video setup too

Thanks Jamie.  Since that video was taken I realised the focus was off by a bit.  So I did the needful - got the wife up on the shed rood and she adjusted it whilst I viewed the screen.  Now it's much better and I get less false recordings.  The scintilations from out of focus orion stars were causing the video to trigger a detection, and I filled 250GB hard drive in two days!

No fireballs yet but about 30+ meteors in 4 nights.  The Watec 902H is very sensitive, and along with the 8mm F0.8 lens (pure fluke I found this on ebay USA), it should pick up meteors down to magnitude +4 or +5

 

Here is a capture from Saturday.

https://streamable.com/eiwn0

 

 

[tooth_dr]

Here is the brightest one so far.  I've just started analysing them with UFO software so have worked out the direction it came from, and the approx magnitude which was -2.4.  It is not that easy to do the analysis but will get the hang of it eventually!!

 

 

 

[don4l]

That is  a good one!

Have you heard of UKMON?

https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/

It might be worth sending them an e-mail.

 

[tooth_dr]

On 06/02/2019 at 00:44, don4l said:

That is  a good one!

Have you heard of UKMON?

https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/

It might be worth sending them an e-mail.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I have been followig them and looking at their various publications.  I'm joining Nemetode http://www.nemetode.org/ and have been in touch with the founder and a couple of members.  Interesting it turns out the founder William went to school with my brother, so it's a small world indeed.

 

[tooth_dr]

Here are a couple of meteors from last night.  I picked up around 19 meteors between 3-5am, more than average.  Here are the two best ones.  Leo can be clear seen in the background of the first one!

 

[JeremyS]

On 08/02/2019 at 14:45, tooth_dr said:

I'm joining Nemetode http://www.nemetode.org/ and have been in touch with the founder and a couple of members.  Interesting it turns out the founder William went to school with my brother, so it's a small world indeed.

Welcome to NEMETODE! I've been a member for 5 years. William lives just down the road from me.

[tooth_dr]

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Welcome to NEMETODE! I've been a member for 5 years. William lives just down the road from me.

Thanks! That’s cool! William got me the pc and set it up and Michael O’Connell sourced me a Watec camera. I then found a computar lens online so am rightly set up now!

 

[JeremyS]

10 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Thanks! That’s cool! William got me the pc and set it up and Michael O’Connell sourced me a Watec camera. I then found a computar lens online so am rightly set up now!

Brilliant! William and Michael are great guys. I hope you will be able to get lots of mutual meteor events with other NEMETODE observers.

By the way, the BAA meets in Armagh Sept 6-9. Maybe some NEMETODE members going to that.

Edited February 10, 2019 by JeremyS

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Brilliant! William and Michael are great guys. I hope you will be able to get lots of mutual meteor events with other NEMETODE observers.

By the way, the BAA meets in Armagh Sept 6-9. Maybe some NEMOTODE members going to that.

Thanks Jeremy.  I'm keeping the dates free, as the Michael mentioned something in Sept, and also a meeting in Dunsink?

Adam

[tooth_dr]

 

[jam1e1]

Looks great Adam - think im going to get a similar setup as next project. Have you experimented with different FoVs? i.e. some of the lenses are not fixed. Did you find the housing easy to construct? Plan is to build one camera setup ,then possible add two and plug both into same PC....however will plan for one and see how that turns out. 

[tooth_dr]

27 minutes ago, jam1e1 said:

Looks great Adam - think im going to get a similar setup as next project. Have you experimented with different FoVs? i.e. some of the lenses are not fixed. Did you find the housing easy to construct? Plan is to build one camera setup ,then possible add two and plug both into same PC....however will plan for one and see how that turns out. 

The lens I have is fixed at 8mm,  but it's very sensitive.  I do have zoom lenses but they become much slower the more you zoom in.  I bought a standard heated CCTV housing, it was about 25 pounds on ebay, has the 12v heating element built in.  I wouldn't build one for that money.

[tooth_dr]

Meteor capture from early hours of Wednesday morning using Watec 902H2 and Computar 8mm F0.8 lens:

Edited September 6, 2019 by tooth_dr