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.

Current Radio-SkyPipe data

Current Radio-SkyPipe data

 

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

Shane camera

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.

Latest AllSky camera capture

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

 

 

 

 

Camera systems introduction

Temp Place holder

Camera systems currently in use by network members include the Sentinel camera a Sony, the Watec 902H, and the PC164CEX-2.

Sentinel camera:

The Sentinel III camera is a Sony HiCam HB-710E. The CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is a 1.27 cm (0.5 inch) interlined chip with 410K pixels. Effective Pixels 768 (Horizontal) X 494 (Vertical). It has a super-low illumination environment of 0.0005 Lux(F1.2 /20 IRE at AGC Max). It is powered by +12VDC and consumes 150 mA at maximum load.

The lens is Rainbow L163VDC4P fisheye lens with a 180 degree field.

For a pictorial tour of the Sony HiCam HB-710E camera, it’s housing and frame grabber click here.

The Sentinel – video frame grabber comes in an external box. It contains a micro-controller, a RCM3200, from Rabbit Semiconductor. There are three connections on the box, 1) +3.3V DC input, 2) a BNC male connector for the 1Vp-p video input from the Sony camera via 75 ohm coax, and 3) an Ethernet jack. The frame grabber communicates with a PC via the ethernet cable either directly with a crossover cable or through a LAN hub via a conventional ethernet cable.

The Sentinel III system is being replaced by the Sentinel IV system which uses the same camera but uses an internal Hauppaugue model 188 video  card.

Watec 902H

PC164CEX-2

acrylic domes from EZ Tops in New Brunswick.

fisheye lens, sources

 

Video Software systems

A place holder for discussing video software

Software systems:

Sentinel II

The Sentinel II was earliest of the Sentinel camera system used by the BCMN. It used a convex mirror with the camera above the reflecting mirror. Video was feed into a VCR. Users then scanned the nights catch the next day or when there was a report of a fireball.

Sentinel III

This system is still in use by many of the operators of the BCMN. The camera and associated hardware can be seen in a picture essay here Sentinel III system in photos. The system uses an external frame grabber which has firmware burned into a EPROM chip. The frame grabber has an IP address of 10.0.0.1 and communicates with the host computer via a Null type ethernet cable.

Pros:

  1. The software runs on very old, less capable computers without straining them.
  2. The software can run multiple platforms/systems as is.
  3. Software is written in a clear logical way and can be modified easily.
  4. Stable and will run for months at a time.

Cons:

  1. The external frame grabber takes time to download the capture to the software so some meteors are missed during this transaction.
  2. Frame grabber ties up an Ethernet port
  3. On some routers it is impossible to run a net time server due to the 10.0.0.# addressing or port loss.
  4. No stacking of images to bring out the stars. The make long exposure after event helps but is not that powerful.
  5. Shelf space taken up by external frame grabber, cable, and power supply cords.

Sentinel IV

Is the next generation in the Sentinel line. This system employs an internal video card; the Hauppauge ImpactVCB model 188 board.

The software is in beta testing so it is hard to list the pros and the cons. Many of the cons have been squashed in the last couple of upgrades. When fully developed the software is suppose to automatically ftp the events back to New Mexico where it will be analyzed. This feature has not been implemented as of yet.

Pros:

The biggest improvement is the near real time capture and data writing. There are no longer dead seconds (sometimes minutes) while the card downloads to the computer. This leads to much less loss of data during showers.  It does have a method to simulate stacking frames that helps define dimmer stars.

I see two cons so far. The first is the software’s dependence on Windows system software. I can not be run on Linux or Mac computers without going to a virtual machine and running Windows. I see this as a big step backwards although Window users will not be that impacted by the switch. The other con is the code is compiled so there is no way to easily read  or modify the source code.

It is too soon to tell how stable the final version of the software will be or what planned features will make the final cut.

 

UFOCapture

Unlike Sentinel software UFOCaptureV2 (V2.22  2008/11/28) is not freeware, it is a commercial product. There are two other sets of software that analyze the UFOCapture files, UFOAnalyzer V2 (V2.28 2010/02/28)  and UFO Oribit (V2.25 2010/02/28). They both are freeware and they will be covered in the Video Analysis section.

Pros:

  1. Works with multiple camera types.
  2. Highly flexible can fine tune to observer’s needs.
  3. Overlays a Time stamps on the video images.
  4. Easy to make masking
  5. Software notes and produces scintillation masks.
  6. Can fine tune the triggering and greatly reduce or eliminate aircraft, spiders, and bird triggers.
  7. Records more stars than Sentinel does during exposures.
  8. Multiple meteor capture possible
  9. Coupled with the two associate analysis software the trio gives the user a very powerful tool, especially with multi-station captures.

 

Cons:

  1. Needs a video to digital card like Canopus or the Hauppauge card that comes with Sentinel IV.
  2. Expensive license versus freeware and shareware.
  3. The manual was originally written in Japanese and the English translation is fairly choppy and hard to understand at times.
  4. Eats up a lot cpu cycles so a newer, faster and more capable computer is needed compared to a Sentinel system
  5. The software is so full of features it presents a steep learning curve before feeling at ease with it.

 

HandAvi

 

Note: Video Analysis software will be covered in the Analysis section of this site.

 

2009 11 08 Prince George Fireball

On November 8, 2009, Wayne, at RDL Observatory, reported a capture of a bright fireball to our network. He told us:

“All
Late night capture, direction of travel westward. Event seen at Telkwa BC. UFO analyzer places impact area some where in the Terrace / Telkwa area but calibration of ufo analyzer is uncertain.  Witness at Telkwa said phosphor like drops falling between him and hill 1 mile to his north.  No Sound heard. enjoy
wayne”

Wayne sent a movie of the event to the BCMN group. You can view it here:

 

Upon receipt of Wayne’s report Brower wrote Alan Hildebrand, Coordinator of the Canadian Fireball Reporting Centre, and asked if he was getting any additional reports of the event. He said he had not heard of the event.

In between e-mails Hildebrand checked back in his mail and found the alert Wayne had sent earlier. (It’s always  good to follow up if you don’t hear back).

CBC carried and article the next day. You can view the article by clicking here.

On November 9th Hidlebrand (personal communication to Brower) summarized to the MIAC group. The fireball was:

  1. Seen widely.
  2. It caused explosive booms and cast ground shadows.
  3. He estimated the fireball to be in the  -17 to -18 magnitude range.
  4. Estimate ‘conservatively in 100 kg to 1 tonne order of magnitude’.
  5. Had an east to west motion (and apparently some south to north and at least modestly steep) which would be reasonable for prefall orbits.
  6. Was probably a meteorite dropper.

No other BCMN camera recorded the fireball.

 

2008 09 09 The SPE Outbreak

As the sun was about to rise on September 9, 2008 an unpredicted outbreak of the September Perseid shower occurred.

Jeff, at the West Kelowna site, checked his overnight Sentinel video captures and quickly noted an unusual cluster of fireballs. Below is a composite image of of the outbreak.

Brower notified Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the large number of fireballs via e-mail. Jenniskens then sent inquiries to other observers to confirm the outbreak. Almost simultaneously reports of the outbreak started coming in on various meteor forums . As soon as Jenniskens received supporting information he issued a telegram, CBET 1501, as shown below.

CBET 1501 SPE 2008

 

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2008 02 19 PNW Bolide

On February 19, 2008 at 13:30 UT, a large fireball entered the earth’s upper atmosphere. Visual reports of the bolide started streaming in at police stations and television stations. A regional airline pilot filed a report of a possible aircraft going down over western Washington.

At 13:30:59 UT the West Kelowna Sentinel all-sky camera caught was triggered by a extremely bright bolide. The video showed the bolide moving slowly downward towards my southeastern horizon. It disappeared behind the mountains across the Okanagan Lake. Despite being below my horizon behind the mountain range the sky pulsed with light as the bolide went through several terminal bursts as can be seen by the total amplitude light curve produced by the Sentinel camera:

 

A look at the total number of pixels above the triggering threshold shows most of the light was released during it’s terminal flares.

Total Pixels graph

The graphs as well as the movie was sent to Dr. Alan Hildebrand, Coordinator of the Canadian Fireball Reporting Centre, University of Calgary.

 

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