(meteorobs) NASA Meteor Observing App

[Bill Cooke]

We are working on a web site to make the data accessible to all - game plan is to have it done by March. I have an idea as to how to filter the data and weed out many of the "bogus" observations - it's not perfect, but I will run it by the IMO folks and some others to see what they think once I have the algorithm developed. It is very important that the app users get feedback on how their data is being used, and not have it "disappear into a black hole"

A demo mode is a good idea - right now it transmits everything, but we could turn off the data transmission if the user wants to practice in a demo mode. I will get with the programmer and see how long it will take to implement this.

Thanks for the feedback - please keep it coming!

Sent from my iPad
Bill

On Dec 31, 2011, at 12:21 PM, Shy Halatzi <shyhalatzi at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to try it and give some feedback, but without actually observing. Is it possible to use it in "demo" mode? or is all data being considered real?
> 
> Cheers,
> Shy
> -----------------------------
> שי חלצי Shy Halatzi
> +972-54-4872884
> shy.halatzi at gmail.com
> אטב הגרביים המהפכני - www.socks.co.il
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 6:57 PM, Geert Barentsen <geert at barentsen.be> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Just my two cents on this interesting thread.
> 
> I believe the Meteor Counter app has a significant potential to improve flux estimates. Technology is bound to make this idea successful sooner or later...
> 
> One obvious weakness of the current ZHR graphs is that they are based on a limited number of skilled people (up to ~150 simultaneous observers at peak times, biased towards European longitudes). Although far more could be done to promote and explain the IMO observing standard, the number of people which find joy in performing meticulous observations is always going to be just a small fraction of the total number of sky watchers.
> 
> A simple phone app can tap into the huge number of sky watchers which report no data at present. One might question the accuracy of data collected in this way (e.g. current LCD screens invariably emit white light, and some users will be less careful than others). However, it is perfectly possible to infer correct measurements from noisy data, on the condition that the noise is understood. One will need to model the probability distribution for an observer to detect a meteor as a function of various parameters (e.g., weather, distance to nearest city, population index). Calibrating such a model seems very tricky but not impossible.
> 
> It will be interesting to compare "traditional" and "phone-based" ZHR graphs. The good news is that we can continue to do both: I'd expect the Meteor App to be able to recruit many new observers (>> thousands?) as opposed to converting the "existing meticulous ones" (which, by all means, should be encouraged to continue reporting data in the IMO format which has been in use for over 30 years.)  I'd imagine the "phone-based graph" will be more successful in revealing short-lived outbursts due to the larger number of users, while the "traditional graph" might perhaps yield more accurate absolute values. Either way, meteor science wins.
> 
> It would be interesting if Bill could comment on the data policy. I believe NASA does have a brilliant open data policy, but I imagine it takes machinery and funding to make data available in realtime...
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Happy new year to all!
> Geert
> 
> 
> 
> On 30 December 2011 19:05, Chris Peterson <clp at alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
> The difference is that all the earlier efforts were directed towards
> dedicated meteor observers- people who would go out of their way to make
> or buy a specialized tool (and yes, I do think some of those electronic
> efforts were better than tape recorders).
> 
> This effort takes advantage of a tool that most people already own, and
> typically have with them. Consequently, it has the potential to generate
> a LOT more data. Certainly, there are questions regarding the quality of
> that data, but it's clear this is something that the developers have
> considered. This is obviously a work in progress- but something of
> potential value.
> 
> And even for experienced observers, a recording system like this strikes
> me as much more convenient then something involving tape recorders and
> time codes. It could draw in more visual observers- people like me, who
> while interested to an extent, would never bother to set up something
> with a recorder and shortwave time source. (Of course, an Android
> version will have to show up, first...)
> 
> Chris
> 
> *******************************
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com
> 
> On 12/30/2011 11:31 AM, dfischer at astro.uni-bonn.de wrote:
> 
> >
> > There have been several(!) attempts to popularize such approaches in
> > earlier 'eras' of electronics, from home-made contraptions with buttons to
> > press for each meteor to software running on laptops where one hits some
> > keys blindly to register a meteor (saw one of the latter installations in
> > action during the AUR campaign in the U.S. in 2007) - has anything useful
> > ever come out of this? And why would things now be better?
> >
> > Back then, these systems were tried out mainly by experienced observers,
> > now most everyone could happily fill up the database with noise. An app
> > for blind use would still be a major improvement over campaigns where
> > people are asked to compose a tweet for every meteor they saw, but how
> > would one decide which data to keep and which to discard? I've been hoping
> > for a near-real-time visual-ZHR-generating system for years, but is this
> > the solution?
> >
> > Dan
> 
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