New ‘fireball network’ to detect space rocks faster

Western Canada is getting a faster way to track fireballs.

A “fireball network” of all-sky cameras is being put in place to allow for automated detection of meteorite-dropping fireballs, said University of Alberta scientist Chris Herd, curator of one of the world’s top facilities for preserving and studying the space rocks.

The new system will help scientists detect fireballs as they streak across the sky.

It will then triangulate the landing location of any meteorites that make it to Earth’s surface. And quicker sample collection means better-preserved meteorites and improved scientific analysis.

“The faster we can get the rocks and bring them to our curation facility, the better the science we can do as a result,” said Herd, with the department of earth and atmospheric sciences, in a Monday news release.

The new observatories — provided through an Australian Research Council grant, in partnership with the University of Alberta — each contain two cameras, one for taking video and another for taking still photos.

The observatories will be connected to supercomputers in Australia, which will analyze the data and ensure notification of a potential meteorite fall area within an hour of the event.

Over the next two years, Herd and his colleagues will deploy camera units across Alberta, eastern British Columbia, and western Saskatchewan, with the long term goal of expanding from the Rocky Mountains to Manitoba.

“The idea in the first year is to cover Alberta,” said Herd. “We’ll place about a dozen cameras spaced about 150 kilometres apart across the province.”

Locations include Lake Louise Ski Resort, Lakeland College in Vermillion, Athabasca University, and the University of Alberta’s own Miquelon Lake Research Station.

The most recent camera installation took place last month at Vermilion’s Lakeland College Renewable Energy Learning Centre, ideal for monitoring thanks in part to its dark skies.

Western Canada’s network will be part of a larger, global one, including those in Australia, Morocco, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There will also be a network in southern Ontario.