(meteorobs) 2008 Orionids

[Chris Peterson]

Hi Ed-

Most internally integrating video cameras are on the pricey side. I find the 
best meteor sensitivity at full video rates. With a Watec 120N, dropping 
below 30fps brings out the stars better, but I miss dim meteors. So the only 
reason to use a camera like this for meteor work is to collect an 
astrometric reference along with a meteor detection. But you can actually do 
that pretty well by just collecting a few seconds of ordinary video and 
integrating them externally. Not as clean as internal integration, but 
you'll get 50 stars or more, which is plenty for astrometric calibration.

In general, I don't think you can do better than a PC164C if you're okay 
with a 1/3" sensor, otherwise a Watec 902HS. Both are pretty inexpensive.

BTW, I'd ignore the lux specs. They are pretty meaningless. The old PC23C is 
only about a magnitude less sensitive to meteors than the PC164C, even 
though its lux rating is something like 100 times lower. I've seen 0.1 lux 
cameras that are more sensitive than 0.001 lux cameras.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ed Majden" <epmajden at shaw.ca>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 9:36 AM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) 2008 Orionids


> Depending on the specs you look at these cameras have the same low
> lux sensitivity 0.0003 at f1.2 - 1/60 sec.  What we need is a camera
> where you can control exposure length, i.e. 1/30 sec or better 1/15
> sec exposure.  Such a system may not be more sensitive recording
> moving objects (meteors) but they should be capable of recording more
> background stars for reference points for measurement.  The film
> based MORP Cameras used chopping shutters with a chopping rate of 4X
> per second.  A bit on the low side for velocities but Ian Halliday
> used these rates successfully for his Fireball Network.    Anyone
> know where one can find a video camera with low lux capability with
> exposure length control that will not break the bank?
> Ed Majden