Automated recording
Yes, you can create a setup that records videos of passing meteors while you sleep
Videoing a meteor shower can provide much useful information for scientific research. Highly sensitive cameras such as the popular Watec 902H2 Ultimate CCD video camera are capable of recording meteor trails at 25 frames per second, fast enough for trail speeds to be determined.
To use such a camera you’ll need a fast, wide-angle video (CCTV) lens. Cheaper lenses work well, albeit often with some image distortion, but for a serious setup it’s worth investing in a decent lens.
For the camera to work continuously you should house it in a protective environment, and there are many online guides that describe how to achieve this. A CCTV housing with an internal demisting heater is an ideal choice. You’ll need something like an automatic iris to protect the camera sensor from direct sunlight during the day.
Capturing 720x576 video frames at 25fps produces a lot of data, especially if you’re recording every night. A popular software solution is UFOCapture: it operates as a motion capture system, only recording video when an active trail passes across the frame. A cut-down and feature-limited version is available for free, and there’s a more sophisticated version available as a time-limited trial. The full version costs around £130. Additional free modules can be added to the purchased version to provide further analysis of your results, including the ability to create orbital plots for the incoming meteoroid, as long as more than one station has recorded the same trail.
Many high frame rate planetary cameras can also be used for continuous recording. With these, the gain should be set relatively high to allow the exposures to be kept short, and use dark frames to reduce unwanted noise. Optional adaptors which allow DSLR lenses to be fitted are also available for some types of high frame rate camera.
Video recordings of meteor trails provide rich shower data. They can be used to calculate relative ZHRs as described in Project 1 or for further trail analysis as outlined in Project 3. Our FIND guide OUT to building MORE an all sky camera: www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/howguide/how-make-simple-all-sky-camera Society for Popular Astronomy’s Meteor Section video page: www.popastro.com/meteor/ observingmeteors/video/index.php UKMon’s guide to setting up a video meteor station: https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/downloads