Video Detection of Meteor and Satellite Trails
Whilst cruising through the astronomy websites one rainy night in 2007, I came across
a page on the Armagh Observatory's
website. This set an idea going...
Some time later and I had a Watec 902H2 Ultimate security camera. This 1/2 inch monochrome CCD camera is not only very light sensitive but also quite small. A quick trawl of the internet had made me aware of several pieces of software that would help me capture the images I desired.
In the end, I chose the HandyAvi software, due to a compromise between purchase cost and features. As luck would have it, I already had a very useful mini-PC available as a result of the weather station changes!
This is my meteor camera
in situ on my shed. The Watec 902 is coupled with a F1.4 1.6 - 3.4mm wide-angle
cctv lens obtained via Ebay, encased in a waterproof electrical enclosure I had
in my junk cupboard. The dome was also obtained via Ebay and was extracted from
a system intended to house a small cctv camera. Although this lens is relatively
slow (small aperture) and is intended for a smaller 1/3 inch sensor, it still produces
acceptable (to me) results. Similar lenses for 1/2 inch sensors are prohibatively
expensive, especially fast ones (less than F1.0).
The camera feeds a USB video grabber conected to a 1GHz ITX PC I originally built for my weather station. This PC runs Windows XP SP3 Home Edition. A cheap plug-in mains timer ensures that both the PC and camera are off during the day. Switching the power off to the camera causes the lens iris to shut, thus protecting the sensitive sensor from damage caused by the sun (UV radiation).
My location in the UK, is right underneath the main north/south airway for the UK, as well as being just to the east of a primary approach paths for Manchester airport. This can cause several "false" triggers due to aircraft navigation lights. However, these are easy to identify due to their "strobe" lighting.
Results from this camera can be found on its own dedicated website Spacescan