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Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

pigazing.dcford.org.uk

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Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#11

Post by scrps »

pjsg wrote: post #4

Unclear what the relationship is with the Global Meteor Network ( https://globalmeteornetwork.org/ ) that has people build meteor cameras, often based on RPis, and then contribute the data so that meteor orbits can be determined. This site: https://tammojan.github.io/meteormap/ shows the meteors detected over the last 24 hours. You can see that the UK is pretty well covered with cameras as are some parts of Europe. T…

Even cheaper are esp32 boards. Seeed has tiny esp32c3 with camera included for $14 USD. Granted the camera module isn't the greatest but it may be good enough for sky tracking, there are also other camera modules.

I feel like RPis are overkill unless the data is being processed in situ (even then the rpi may be overkill compute) beyond just packaging it up digestibly to be crunched elsewhere.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#12

Post by dylan604 »

scrps wrote: post #11
pjsg wrote: post #4

Unclear what the relationship is with the Global Meteor Network ( https://globalmeteornetwork.org/ ) that has people build meteor cameras, often based on RPis, and then contribute the data so that meteor orbits can be determined. This site: https://tammojan.github.io/meteormap/ shows the meteors detected over the last 24 hours. You can see that the UK is pretty well covered with cameras as are some parts of Europe. T…

Even cheaper are esp32 boards. Seeed has tiny esp32c3 with camera included for $14 USD. Granted the camera module isn't the greatest but it may be good enough for sky tracking, there are also other camera modules. I feel like RPis are overkill unless the data is being processed in situ (even then the rpi may be overkill compute) beyond just packaging it up digestibly to be crunched elsewhere.

> I feel like RPis are overkill

I feel this way about most uses of RPis, but if it makes it more accessible and easier to use without the limitations of esp32 type boards then at least people are playing with things.

However, from TFA: "The Raspberry Pi computer analyses the video feed in real time to search for moving objects, "

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#13

Post by dylan604 »

redundantly wrote: post #8
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cameras are only used at night, since that's when meteors are visible.

Fully powering off the camera will help, but I imagine with direct sunlight going through the lens and hitting the sensor the heat could still damage it, despite it not recording.

if you have a camera pointing up, then unless you live on the equator, the sun will not be directly overhead for the vast majority of people.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#15

Post by scrps »

dylan604 wrote: post #12
scrps wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even cheaper are esp32 boards. Seeed has tiny esp32c3 with camera included for $14 USD. Granted the camera module isn't the greatest but it may be good enough for sky tracking, there are also other camera modules. I feel like RPis are overkill unless the data is being processed in situ (even then the rpi may be overkill compute) beyond just packaging it up digestibly to be crunched elsewhere.

> I feel like RPis are overkill I feel this way about most uses of RPis, but if it makes it more accessible and easier to use without the limitations of esp32 type boards then at least people are playing with things. However, from TFA: "The Raspberry Pi computer analyses the video feed in real time to search for moving objects, "

Ah, I did miss that in the article!

I see the accessibility angle though I suppose if someone made a turn-key esp32-based sky tracker that might help get them adopted, save people money, and free up their pi.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#16

Post by caphector »

redundantly wrote: post #8
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cameras are only used at night, since that's when meteors are visible.

Fully powering off the camera will help, but I imagine with direct sunlight going through the lens and hitting the sensor the heat could still damage it, despite it not recording.

I have a sky camera (use it for weather and sky observations; my airspace is a bit busy for easy meteor observations). So far my sensor seems to be fine despite an unblinking gaze upwards.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#17

Post by peddling-brink »

peddling-brink wrote: post #3

I was hoping this was a diy type of project. I’d love to contribute to something like this.

Found this from another comment: https://globalmeteornetwork.org/wiki/index.php?title=Build_%...

Looks like $500 US is about the price of entry if you want to buy a kit.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#18

Post by dtgriscom »

Paddywack wrote: post #14

I wonder if SpaceX could put cameras on the far side of the Starlink satellites to make a network gazing outwards. To help compensate for the frustration they are causing astronomers…

Hmmm. Synthetic aperture astronomy using an Earth-sized sphere of 4300 satellites.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#19

Post by pjsg »

darkhorn wrote: post #9
pjsg wrote: post #4

Unclear what the relationship is with the Global Meteor Network ( https://globalmeteornetwork.org/ ) that has people build meteor cameras, often based on RPis, and then contribute the data so that meteor orbits can be determined. This site: https://tammojan.github.io/meteormap/ shows the meteors detected over the last 24 hours. You can see that the UK is pretty well covered with cameras as are some parts of Europe. T…

How I should read the metor lines? What end of the line is impact point? It is really an impact point or last point where the light was observered. How I can search for a metheor using this map?

The meteors go in the direction from darker to white. So the white part of the trail is the lowest and last part of the trail.

Nearly all meteors do not actually impact the ground -- they burn up in the atmosphere. However, sometimes you get the end point quite low in the atmosphere -- then you can try and predict roughly where it will fall.

Re: Pi Gazing is a project to build meteor cameras using Raspberry Pi

#20

Post by pjsg »

scrps wrote: post #11
pjsg wrote: post #4

Unclear what the relationship is with the Global Meteor Network ( https://globalmeteornetwork.org/ ) that has people build meteor cameras, often based on RPis, and then contribute the data so that meteor orbits can be determined. This site: https://tammojan.github.io/meteormap/ shows the meteors detected over the last 24 hours. You can see that the UK is pretty well covered with cameras as are some parts of Europe. T…

Even cheaper are esp32 boards. Seeed has tiny esp32c3 with camera included for $14 USD. Granted the camera module isn't the greatest but it may be good enough for sky tracking, there are also other camera modules. I feel like RPis are overkill unless the data is being processed in situ (even then the rpi may be overkill compute) beyond just packaging it up digestibly to be crunched elsewhere.

There are two challenges -- one is getting a sensitive enough camera to be able to record meteors. The Sony 'starlight' sensors have the required sensitivity. The next is to handle the data stream from the camera and to extra the meteor tracks from the video stream. Accurate timing of each frame is also important so that the meteors can be tracked from multiple cameras and the orbits calculated.

At my location, on most nights, I have far more aircraft crossing the field of view than meteors -- and that needs a far amount of compute to extract the signal from the noise.

A typical set of output from a nights run: https://globalmeteornetwork.org/weblog/US/US001N/US001N_2024... -- the first images is the all the meteors from the night (but it is clear that there are some aircraft there). The second image is all the tracks seen overnight and you can see that it is almost entirely aircraft.

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