(meteorobs) All sky cameras

[Chris Peterson]

I find that mag 2 and brighter is perfect. It provides a wealth of meteor 
data- I'm able to accurately track the radiants for showers, record shower 
rate data, and pick out possible new shower radiants. That is possible with 
a 180° FOV and no intensifier. At the same time, I can accurately record the 
position vs time of fireballs. I can even record the light curve of 
fireballs by measuring the scattered light off a white reference target, 
rather than looking at the fireball itself when it's saturated.

My system isn't a Sentinel, but it broadly useful beyond just detecting 
possible meteorite falls (which is always going to be a very rare event).

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: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) All sky cameras


> Larry et all:
> What is your purpose for recording meteors in this magnitude range?
> If your doing meteor flux studies or a program that Sirko Molau heads
> you need to reach fainter magnitudes than these all-sky cameras are
> capable of.  In this case you either have to use a sensitive ccd
> camera with a small field of view or use an image intensifier
> system.  The purpose of the Sandia System as I understand it is to
> detect meteor dropping fireballs.  If there is another purpose, what
> is it?
> Ed Majden