(meteorobs) Info. - Portable Hemi-mirror for Daylihgt Arietids.

[stange34 at sbcglobal.net]

Construction is well advanced on a (portable) all sky 18" hemispherical 
mirror system similar in basic design to Chris's(Cloudbait), and Ed Majden's 
Sentinel mirror systems. URL's:
http://www.cloudbait.com/projects/allskycamera1.html
The very desireable sophisticated construction of Ed's triangular support 
camera system is beyond my means at this time.
http://members.shaw.ca/epmajden/index.htm

It was found that low to moderate light sensitive cameras(0.1 Lux) were 
better than using low light cameras for any daylight use. The low-lights 
cameras were completely saturated with ambient stray light even with sun 
blocking, and Arietids would need to equal the sun in magnitude to be 
distinguishable by contrast. No special advantage was found using an IR dome 
with a sensitive camera just for this daylight project as light saturation & 
reflection artifacts still existed.

Best focus lenses found for this mirror system were 8 to 8.5mm using camera 
(INTERNAL AGC) auto-iris over a variety of lenses including a wide angle 4mm 
Rainbow lens.

Camera housing extended down well below lens to block stray ambient light 
for better contrast. The lens can only see to the outer perimeter of the 
slightly raised mirror itself. The entire structure will not be elevated and 
will set somewhat below roof line and well below nearby tree line on a patio 
roof in order to be easily removed or modified later.

Sun blocking will be poor, blocking disk will be larger than necessary. 
Standard 24 hour timer dials rotate CW and will not match the Sun travel arc 
from East to West unless turned upside down.... which presents problems with 
verticle AC power cords when a sun block rod extension rotates a disk. Am 
trying to work that out......do not have a CCW synchronous motor available 
in the short time remaining before the Arietids arrive.

No idea on what luck to expect on any Arietid count using all of this and 
HandyAvi during the daylight hours in North Central California, USA. It will 
be ran independant of the Night time Sentinel system. Photo of finished 
construction "project" later.

YCSentinel