(meteorobs) All sky cameras

[Ed Majden]

Hello Chris:
	I'm surprised that you can record +2 meteors with your system.  Very  
nice!  This summer I will be testing a PC164 against the present  
Sentinel System that I have.  I also have an Astrovid 2000 camera  
that you have limited control over gain and shutter speed.  It will  
be interesting to see if there is any improvement with this unit.   
Unfortunately my site is badly light polluted, so this may limit my  
faint meteor recording capability.  I am also having problems  
recording background stars with the Sentinel.  I have a couple of  
second generation intensifiers but use them to record spectra.  If I  
used them in an all-sky mode I would likely end up with burn spots  
created by lights near the horizon.  I guess one could mask this area  
out, but the problem still exists that a shutter would be required to  
prevent exposure when twilight begins.
Cheers:
Ed Majden
Courtenay, B.C. Canada

On 12-May-09, at 1:56 PM, Chris Peterson wrote:

> 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
>
>