Imaging the night sky
23 Sep 2010 by Evoluted New Media
A series of cameras are to continuously scan the night skies over the UK to look for incoming meteors and provide details on the best conditions for night time surveys.
A series of cameras are to continuously scan the night skies over the UK to look for incoming meteors and provide details on the best conditions for night time surveys.
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| Astrophysics graduate David Campbell with the All-Sky camera |
University of Hertfordshire astrophysics graduate David Campbell first placed his All-Sky camera at the Bayford Observatory in October 2009 to record images of the sky continuously through the night with the aim of detecting clouds above the observatory to help researchers monitor sky conditions and gauge the best time to scan the sky.
Campbell’s project is the first known attempt at automating the detection of clouds at night and he’s already had some interesting findings – like Sunday nights are four times clearer than Tuesdays.
He has set up cameras at Hemel Hempstead and the Isle of Wight with another currently being set up in Norfolk. These cameras will enable astronomers to triangulate the path of an incoming meteor and help in the recovery of meteorites – one of Campbell’s hobbies.
“We could be filming a supernova before we know it,” said Campbell, “The All-Sky cameras give us a complete record of the sky, not just a compressed picture. No one has surveyed the night sky over the UK like this before.”
The cameras have also detected 26 possible fireballs, and a few actual fireballs from the Perseid meteor shower in August.
Campbell has described his finding in a YouTube video which you can find under LabNews Recommends at www.youtube.com/labnews. The All-Sky camera website is http://star.herts.ac.uk/allsky.
