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Re: (meteorobs) Video camera meteor recording.
Ed, do your cautions apply to the new generation of surveillance cameras
relying on the Sony ExView HAD CCDs? These things are claimed to have
sensitivities of 0.0003 lux at f/1.8. One of the vendors listed in a
previous posting to this list had a QuickTime movie 50 seconds long showing
9 Leonids -- and the view was partially blocked by trees. Field of view
looked like about 40 degrees, and I could see 5th magnitude stars. It's hard
to evaluate the true quality, because the file on the website was MPEG
compressed, which really screws up meteor images.
Chris
> From: "Ed Majden" <epmajden@shawdot ca>
> Reply-To: meteorobs@atmob.org
> Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 11:16:40 -0800
> To: "meteorobs" <meteorobs@atmob.org>
> Subject: (meteorobs) Video camera meteor recording.
>
> I have been following the thread on using video cameras of the
> surveillance type for recording meteors. Before you go out and buy one, I
> would caution you that they have limited use for meteor work. They are just
> not sensitive enough to record faint meteors. If you want to do this you
> must use an image intensifier. The Sandia all-sky camera uses a
> surveillance type camera for fireball patrol work. It is mounted above an
> 18 inch diameter convex mirror turning it into 180 degree+ coverage but it
> will only record meteors brighter than -3.0 magnitude or so. For tracking
> fireballs, this is fine. It does have its own problems however, as it will
> not record background stars which are required to determined accurate
> elevation positions of a fireball. Smaller fields of view will record
> fainter meteors but only in the +1 or +2 magnitude range. An image
> intensified camera will record meteors as faint as +6 magnitude and even
> fainter if you have a good intensifier and use a fast lens. Unfortunately
> new intensifiers are expensive. If your lucky, you may find a good one on
> the surplus market or on eBay at much less cost. You should look for a 2nd
> or 3rd generation intensifier. For anyone living outside of the USA, you
> have another problem to contend with. Export restrictions have been placed
> on some US manufactured intensifiers and most companies will not export
> them. Check this out first.
>
> Ed Majden - AMS Spectroscopy Project Coordinator
>
> The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
> If you are interested in complete links on the 2001 LEONIDS, see:
> http://www.meteorobs.org/storms.html
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>
The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
If you are interested in complete links on the 2001 LEONIDS, see:
http://www.meteorobs.org/storms.html
To stop getting email from the 'meteorobs' list, use the Web form at:
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