The Global Meteor Network — Methodology and First Results. (arXiv:2107.12335v3 [astro-ph.EP] UPDATED)
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Vida_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Denis Vida</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Segon_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Damir Šegon</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gural_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Peter S. Gural</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Brown_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Peter G. Brown</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+McIntyre_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Mark J.M. McIntyre</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dijkema_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Tammo Jan Dijkema</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pavletic_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lovro Pavletić</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kukic_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Patrik Kukić</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mazur_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael J. Mazur</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Eschman_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Peter Eschman</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Roggemans_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Paul Roggemans</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Merlak_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Aleksandar Merlak</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zubovic_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Dario Zubović</a>
The Global Meteor Network (GMN) utilizes highly sensitive low-cost CMOS video
cameras which run open-source meteor detection software on Raspberry Pi
computers. Currently, over 450 GMN cameras in 30 countries are deployed. The
main goal of the network is to provide long-term characterization of the
radiants, flux, and size distribution of annual meteor showers and outbursts in
the optical meteor mass range. The rapid 24-hour publication cycle the orbital
data will enhance the public situational awareness of the near-Earth meteoroid
environment. The GMN also aims to increase the number of instrumentally
observed meteorite falls and the transparency of data reduction methods. A
novel astrometry calibration method is presented which allows decoupling of the
camera pointing from the distortion, and is used for frequent pointing
calibrations through the night. Using wide-field cameras
($88^{circ}times48^{circ}$) with a limiting stellar magnitude of $+6.0 pm
0.5$ at 25 frames per second, over 220,000 precise meteoroid orbits were
collected since December 2018 until June 2021. The median radiant precision of
all computed trajectories is $0.47^{circ}$, $0.32^{circ}$ for $sim20%$ of
meteors which were observed from 4+ stations, a precision sufficient to measure
physical dispersions of meteor showers. All non-daytime annual established
meteor showers were observed during that time, including five outbursts. An
analysis of a meteorite-dropping fireball is presented which showed visible
wake, fragmentation details, and several discernible fragments. It had spatial
trajectory fit errors of only ~40 m, which translated into the estimated
radiant and velocity errors of 3 arc minutes and tens of meters per second.
The Global Meteor Network (GMN) utilizes highly sensitive low-cost CMOS video
cameras which run open-source meteor detection software on Raspberry Pi
computers. Currently, over 450 GMN cameras in 30 countries are deployed. The
main goal of the network is to provide long-term characterization of the
radiants, flux, and size distribution of annual meteor showers and outbursts in
the optical meteor mass range. The rapid 24-hour publication cycle the orbital
data will enhance the public situational awareness of the near-Earth meteoroid
environment. The GMN also aims to increase the number of instrumentally
observed meteorite falls and the transparency of data reduction methods. A
novel astrometry calibration method is presented which allows decoupling of the
camera pointing from the distortion, and is used for frequent pointing
calibrations through the night. Using wide-field cameras
($88^{circ}times48^{circ}$) with a limiting stellar magnitude of $+6.0 pm
0.5$ at 25 frames per second, over 220,000 precise meteoroid orbits were
collected since December 2018 until June 2021. The median radiant precision of
all computed trajectories is $0.47^{circ}$, $0.32^{circ}$ for $sim20%$ of
meteors which were observed from 4+ stations, a precision sufficient to measure
physical dispersions of meteor showers. All non-daytime annual established
meteor showers were observed during that time, including five outbursts. An
analysis of a meteorite-dropping fireball is presented which showed visible
wake, fragmentation details, and several discernible fragments. It had spatial
trajectory fit errors of only ~40 m, which translated into the estimated
radiant and velocity errors of 3 arc minutes and tens of meters per second.
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