Long-Term Continuous Double Station Observation of Faint Meteor Showers

Sensors (Basel). 2016 Sep 14;16(9):1493. doi: 10.3390/s16091493.

Abstract

Meteor detection and analysis is an essential topic in the field of astronomy. In this paper, a high-sensitivity and high-time-resolution imaging device for the detection of faint meteoric events is presented. The instrument is based on a fast CCD camera and an image intensifier. Two such instruments form a double-station observation network. The MAIA (Meteor Automatic Imager and Analyzer) system has been in continuous operation since 2013 and has successfully captured hundreds of meteors belonging to different meteor showers, as well as sporadic meteors. A data processing pipeline for the efficient processing and evaluation of the massive amount of video sequences is also introduced in this paper.

Keywords: CCD camera; faint meteor shower; image intensifier; image processing; meteoroid.