School District #27, in partnership with the Prince George Astronomical Society, provided Tatla Lake Elementary/Jr. Secondary School as a site for an AllSky Camera.
Author: admin
Welcome Tatla Lake School
A special welcome to the Tatla School and it’s new video meteor camera! We look forward to working with you.
Preparation for calibrating a Sentinel Camera
Steps to take prior to calibrating a Sentinel Camera
Flesh out – PLACEHOLDER ONLY!
Put the procedure here.
- Make long exposure after each capture… TIF format
- Use GIMP, Paint, PhotoShop or other image processing program and push the brightness and contrast
- After photo brings out the hidden starts run a planetarium program. Looking south, elv 90, fov 180.
- Match the stars noting pixel x/y on photo and az/el on the planetarium.
- run python program calpos.py This produces a personalized correction file that will be used for triangulation. (See Ken’s pdf on the process)
RASC Prince George Centre Observatory
RASC Prince George Centre Observatory (aka Prince George Astronomical Society) is located on Tedford Road in Prince George. It is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of astronomy and science in Prince George and the neighbouring Northern Canadian communities.
RASC Prince George Centre employs three methods of meteor detection
DETECTION USING AN FM CARRIER FREQUENCY
The RASC Prince George Centre has implemented a meteor detection project using information obtained from the Sky Scan Science Awareness Project and a program called Radio-SkyPipe. Two FM automobile radios tuned to 98.7 MHz, a Yagi antenna, and a Quadrifilar Helicoidal antenna, enable us to collect data and present it here in graph form.
DETECTION USING A TV CARRIER FREQUENCY
The RASC Prince George Centre Observatory has associated itself with the International meteor detection organization called Radio Meteor Observatories On Line. Using the programs Spectrum Lab and Colorgramme RMOB lab, along with an ICOM IC-PCR1000 receiver tuned to Channel 3 video carrier frequency 61.240 MHz, we are able to collect data and present it here. Meteor activity on the left is in graph form for a 24 hour period. Data in the right hand box accumulates during the month and is colour based with blue signifying zero activity. Colours approaching red signify increased activity.
DETECTION USING AN ALLSKY VIDEO SYSTEM
The following image is the latest real time capture from the AllSky camera installed at the RASC Prince George Centre Observatory. This camera has a 180 degree field of view. North is up, West is to the right.
Student UFO2 User Guide
The Sonotaco.com site provides you with the latest capture and analysis software. The basic requirements are:
1) UFOCaptureV2 V2.22 to capture the data. Registration of this program is required after 30 days and the cost is 18900 Japanese Yen. Use this currency converter to determine the cost in your currency. You’ll also need the Users Manual. It is offered in an html and zipped format.
2) UFOAnalyzer V2 V2.28 to analyze the data. This is a free program. Provided in a pdf and zipped format, the Users Manual is essential to understanding this program. If you are a BC camera operator, download and install the Map of Canada (West) file. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to locate it. Extract the file to the UA2 root directory.
3) UFOOrbitV2 V2.25 to determine the meteor’s orbit. This is a free program. The Users Manual for this utility is offered in a pdf and zipped format.
The BBS Forum is also a good source of user information. You don’t need to speak or read Japanese 🙂
For those people that simply want to analyze the data, follow steps 2 and 3, and then do the following:
4) Download the contents of the UProfiles for UFO2 operators folder found in the Data Downloads/Video Data Downloads section and install the contents into the PROF folder of UA2.
5) To analyze individual captures, select a file found in the Data Downloads/Video Data Downloads section from any of the observatories using UFO2. At the moment, they are RASCPG, RDL, Shane, and Tatla. Download and extract the files into your directory. How you set up your directory is up to you. Use UA2 to analyze the data and plot a ground map.
6) To analyze common captures, you will download and analyze the files from Data Downloads/Video Data Downloads/Common Captures individually (don’t forget to select the profile for the site you are working with)…but you will perform one final step involving the use of Paint.NET. You will have saved the UA2 ground map from each site analysis. Using the Paint.NET tutorial, overlay the ground maps to determine the intersecting point.
7) When you have determined the intersecting point, email your results for confirmation to the administrator of this site. Your files will include the .XML and ground map files for each of the sites you worked with, as well as the overlay map from Paint.NET. Once your data is confirmed with other site users, it will be posted in the Video Results and Papers section and forwarded on to the Coordinator of the Canadian Fireball Reporting Centre at the University of Calgary.
North Island College
Established in 1975, North Island College is now comprised of four campuses and four centres covering an area that includes northern Vancouver Island and the BC mainland coast from Desolation Sound to Swindle Island. The college offers over 800 courses and programs in health care, trades, business, fine arts, tourism, and university studies.
North Island College has a unique tie to Tatla Lake Elementary/Jr. Secondary School. With the assistance of the Tatlayoko Think Tank and others, an astronomical dome and telescope were installed on the school grounds.
The first observatory to be accessible via the internet in British Columbia, it is used by students of North Island College as part of the Space Science and Astronomy:Introduction to Deep Space Astronomy course.
ABMO General Information
The Archambeau-Brower Memorial Observatory in West Kelowna
Lat 49.84695 N Long 119.55908 W
Welcome to the Archambeau-Brower Memorial Observatory located in West Kelowna. The observatory employs both a radio and video systems for the detection of meteors.
In addition to the meteor gear the observatory also has a Meade LX200, 0.254 meter Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope that operates in a robot mode.
To view the my radio page please click here.
To view the my video page please click here.
My live home weather station data can be found here.
Astronomy weather forecast for this observatory:
Current status at ABMO
Radio Detection is ON
Video Detection is armed for Sunset + 25 minutes to sunrise - 25 minutes
LX200 Robot is OFF
VLF is OFF
Shane Observatory
Shane Observatory employs three methods of meteor detection
DETECTION USING AN FM CARRIER FREQUENCY
The Shane Observatory has implemented a meteor detection project using information obtained from the Sky Scan Science Awareness Project and a program called Radio-SkyPipe. Two FM automobile radios tuned to 98.7 MHz, a Yagi antenna, and a Quadrifilar Helicoidal antenna, enable us to collect data and present it here in graph form.
DETECTION USING A TV CARRIER FREQUENCY
The Shane Observatory has associated itself with the International meteor detection organization called Radio Meteor Observatories On Line. Using the programs Spectrum Lab and Colorgramme RMOB lab, along with an ICOM IC-PCR1000 receiver tuned to Channel 3 video carrier frequency 61.240 MHz, we are able to collect data and present it here. Meteor activity on the left is in graph form for a 24 hour period. Data in the right hand box accumulates during the month and is colour based with blue signifying zero activity. Colours approaching red signify increased activity.
DETECTION USING AN ALLSKY VIDEO SYSTEM
The following image is the latest real time capture from the AllSky camera installed at the Shane Observatory. This camera has a maximum 180 degree field of view. North is up, West is to the right.
RDL Observatory
Good Day All
This Observatory is somewhat active in visual astronomy however realistically I live in BC. This location has less than 68 days a year that are suitable for visually seeing and looking at stars.
Because of the reduced number of viewing days I first “Migrated to Simple Radio Astronomy Techniques” Namely a automotive FM radio tuned to a non used channel. in my case 98.7mhz. A simple homemade antenna, and a software program called Radio Sky Pipe which using your PC and Windows generated and recorded a strip chart. Used for a few years perhaps 4 or so reactivated last week.
The next step up was to look at a form of passive radar. Equipment used here differs from simple to more extensive and sophisticated radios ones, that are stable and will tune to television visual carrier frequencies. Again using purpose written software “SpecLab”, the sound card of a PC, a simple antenna completes this project.
The above system uses a target TV station that is ~ 1500 km from the receiving site. In my case the target is on the Saskatchewan/ Manitoba border. As the meteor enters the earths atmosphere at 105 to 95 km a plasma trail is generated which the target signal reflects off of giving me a characteristic ping the software decodes and presents it on a chart that is archived, it also generates a comma delimited file ready for importing in to spread sheets and other software programs. Because of a vary flaky internet connection to European areas I do not upload data to the RMOB site but submit data monthly to it for archival purposes.
Also on the active research list is the operation of two All Sky Cameras. The first on line in the year 2005. A home built system comprised firstly of a PC164 camera, a Rainbow wide angle lens. and a capture card. Tried many different software programs none being useful. Until attending a SSSP Star Party where Garry Dymond presented a discussion group with UFO Capture Software. This was the Key to a successful capture program. System has been revamped several time with up grades and changes. Latest configuration is Watec 902h u camera, a ADVC 55 digital video Converter. Dell GA280 computer plus the original purchased UFO capture software.
Next on line is a Sandia Sentinel system installed and operational about 4 months ago. It is the Sandia Mark IV configuration using a Sony 1/2″ camera, Rainbow lens, internal capture card, purpose written software and a Dell GA270 computer. This system is coming along well.
Currently there is a 3.5 meter dish with a 9 element yagi antenna as a pick up point feeding a Icom PCR1000 radio on channel 67 with Radio Sky Pipe software ( in power ) detection mode attempting to detect Cassiopeia. Also using Radio Eyes Authored by Jim Sky who is the author of Radio Sky Pipe software mentioned earlier. Results have been terrible so far.
73 wayne ve7duc
Video Data Common
Below are the data from meteors that were caught on two or more cameras. Usually this means triangulation can be carried out and an orbit determined.