Introduction:

We operate a Meteor camera at the observatory, coordinated by Janice.

Members of the Meteor Group are able to log-in and sift through the results looking for genuine meteors and other interesting sightings for further analysis.

Equipment:

WATEC 902H Ultimate with a 12.5mm focal length F1.2 Lens

 

Meteor Camera1

Camera Settings:

  • Exposure – 25 fps (non-integrating mode)
  • Gain – AGC Lo (Switches 1 and 2 are in the OFF position)
  • Gamma – Off (=1.0 – to increase contrast, also adjust capture device)
  • Electronic Shutter settings (Shutter mode ON AE Mode Control 8, EI:OFF (stops it ‘hunting’ in twilight)
    • Switch number 3 is in the ON position
    • The ten point setting dial on the side set to 8?
  • Iris settings:  Fully open

More Info:

UFO Capture Night Sky Observation Guide 

UFO Capture User’s Manual 

UFO Analyser User’s Manual

Protocol for Meteor checking

Meteors are checked for during the day, members may check any previous nights not yet checked.

Monday – Gary Hunt
Tuesday – David Freed
Wednesday – Stephen Brooks
Thursday – S Rubie
Friday – Steve Goldson
Saturday Dominique Ferrand
Sunday – Diane Clark

Please let Janice McClean know if you wish to change your day or withdraw

On your ‘day’ please log into mycloud and look over all the files from the night before. 

 

M20180807_025747_Dartford_CMP

Identified Meteor Files and anything else of interest:

  • Meteors and sprites (obviously)
  • Wildlife
  • Alien Star Destroyers – especially if Vogon 
  • Any thing else that you think may be interesting.

Move the files from their current location to Public | Meteor detector | Meteors – verified for analysis | year | month | start date of meteor

False Alerts:

  • Airplanes
  • Domestic lights
  • Cars
  • Fireworks

Delete all of the four relevant files (jpg, bmp, avi, xml) – Don’t worry if you delete something by mistake we have local back-ups.

Finally:

Having moved the files or deleted the false detections you should be left with no files in the day’s folder please delete the folder, and feel free to process any previous folders not checked by others. If you discovered a meteor please let the group know on the group email distribution ideally with a link to the meteor files.

Any Problems:

Any problems with moving, deleting or accessing the NAS will normally be fixed with a retry, if this fails wait a couple of hours and try again, if it continually fails, try a different browser and if this also fails contact Janice McClean, Simon Dawes and Mike Rushton who will look into the problem.

Thank you:

Thanks to the following people for helping the society get our meteor camera up and running:

Nick James (BAA) 

Richard Fleet (BAA and Newbury AS)

Leeds Astronomical Society

Alex Pratt – Nemetode Group

Plus, of course, Janice McClean for leading the project and all the Society members (too many to name) who have contributed to the project.