APOD: A Thousand Meteors (2020 Sep 12)

[APOD Robot]

A Thousand Meteors

Explanation: Over a thousand meteors flash through the night in this intriguing timelapse video. Starting in April 2019 the individual video frames were selected from 372 relatively clear nights of imaging from an automated wide-field observatory in rural New South Wales Australia. Arranged by local sidereal time, a timekeeping system that uses the positions of stars to measure Earth's rotation, the frames follow the full annual progression of constellations through the wide field of view seen from 33 degrees south latitude. They capture a diverse array of meteors including sporadic meteors, bright fireballs, and shower meteors (plus a lightning sprite), during the period. All frames were processed consistently and so show real variations in the local sky conditions.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[heehaw]

Fabulous! Wonderful! Super indeed!

[orin stepanek]

I had to look twice, I thought the subject was meters at first! Oh; there's an O in there!

[sillyworm 2]

Saw one the other night..just happened to be looking at the sky.Slightly more special than when you're looking on a night of a shower.

[De58te]

So in spite of the headline the video was intended to show sidereal time of the Earth's rotation? Nevertheless a thousand meteors seen over 372 nights works out to less than 3 meteors a night! That's about right since that's the most meteors I wind up seeing a night during a meteor shower.

[johnnydeep]

A Thousand Meteors

Explanation: Over a thousand meteors flash through the night in this intriguing timelapse video. Starting in April 2019 the individual video frames were selected from 372 relatively clear nights of imaging from an automated wide-field observatory in rural New South Wales Australia. Arranged by local sidereal time, a timekeeping system that uses the positions of stars to measure Earth's rotation, the frames follow the full annual progression of constellations through the wide field of view seen from 33 degrees south latitude. They capture a diverse array of meteors including sporadic meteors, bright fireballs, and shower meteors (plus a lightning sprite), during the period. All frames were processed consistently and so show real variations in the local sky conditions.

Ok, so it took me a little while to appreciate that "Arranged by local sidereal time" means that the 372 separate night pictures, which were all taken at different times of the day, were reshuffled to appear in local sidereal time order so that we get the illusion of a single day progressing through a rotating starry sky, correct?

Also at 0:52 in the video, what are these two things - I want to say the little one is the SMC, but then the bigger one should be the LMC, but it looks too diffuse:

What are these?

[Chris Peterson]

So in spite of the headline the video was intended to show sidereal time of the Earth's rotation? Nevertheless a thousand meteors seen over 372 nights works out to less than 3 meteors a night! That's about right since that's the most meteors I wind up seeing a night during a meteor shower.

The camera probably captures a dozen or more meteors on most nights, and hundreds per night during showers. That's what I see with mine.

[alter-ego]

...
Also at 0:52 in the video, what are these two things - I want to say the little one is the SMC, but then the bigger one should be the LMC, but it looks too diffuse:

What Are These.JPG

The arrow points to the Pleiades, and you've circle contains Orions belt and sword w/ M42.
Remember, constellations are upside down down under. I had a ball identifying familiar constellations when I was in Australia for Halley.

[johnnydeep]

...
Also at 0:52 in the video, what are these two things - I want to say the little one is the SMC, but then the bigger one should be the LMC, but it looks too diffuse:

What Are These.JPG

The arrow points to the Pleiades, and you've circle contains Orions belt and sword w/ M42.
Remember, constellations are upside down down under. I had a ball identifying familiar constellations when I was in Australia for Halley.

Ok, thanks. That makes sense.

[gvann]

I wonder what trees those are. Their foliage seems not to change at all during the year (although the tree in the upper right lost a small branch at some point). So, they must be some kind of evergreens. But they don't look to me like anything that I am familiar with in the northeastern USA.

GV

[goatrider]

I had to look twice, I thought the subject was meters at first! Oh; there's an O in there!

So it's a "Kilometeor".

[Sa Ji Tario]

It is not the USA, it is Australia and you can also see Aldebaran, in the head of Taurus and the Hiades

[heehaw]

Here's some help:
https://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/02/map ... thur-1979/

[alter-ego]

I wonder what trees those are. Their foliage seems not to change at all during the year (although the tree in the upper right lost a small branch at some point). So, they must be some kind of evergreens. But they don't look to me like anything that I am familiar with in the northeastern USA.

GV

Most likely the tree is an evergreen species of Eucalyptus. I recall seeing them all over when I was in Victoria.

[Greg_Priestley]

So in spite of the headline the video was intended to show sidereal time of the Earth's rotation? Nevertheless a thousand meteors seen over 372 nights works out to less than 3 meteors a night! That's about right since that's the most meteors I wind up seeing a night during a meteor shower.

There is more nuance. I actually identified 2,686 meteor frames from 570,518 discrete images shot across the 372 nights. I then down selected these -a lot of frames had the moon or were moon lit, and this caused even more excessive jarring brightness changes frame to frame. Others whilst they could be identified weren't significant enough to be recognisable during playback. Finally, some were dropped because there were also satellite trails in the frame, frequently more obvious, so didn't want to confuse the issue.

[Greg_Priestley]

I had to look twice, I thought the subject was meters at first! Oh; there's an O in there!

So it's a "Kilometeor".

I might have to steal that.

[Greg_Priestley]

A Thousand Meteors

Ok, so it took me a little while to appreciate that "Arranged by local sidereal time" means that the 372 separate night pictures, which were all taken at different times of the day, were reshuffled to appear in local sidereal time order so that we get the illusion of a single day progressing through a rotating starry sky, correct?

Correct - if I play them back per capture time, it's very dizzying to watch as the sky jumps from frame to frame can be very dramatic - and it makes it hard to pick out the meteors with all the other movement also occurring frame to frame.

My original objective for the project was to do in effect a continuous seamless 360 degree of the full constellations that are seen, but the footage from December thru February were significantly affected by the bushfires that we had here last year which killed that plan.

Other variations from the project can be seen at:
https://www.astroimaging.gallery/