Philip A. Bland and the DFN Team, Curtin University
Keywords: wide-field array, space situational awareness, planetary science, fireballs
Abstract:
The Desert Fireball Network (DFN) is designed to track meteoroids entering the atmosphere, determine pre-entry orbits (their origin in the solar system), and pinpoint fall positions for recovery by field teams. Fireball observatories are sited at remote dark-sky sites across Australia – logistics for power, sensor platforms, and data connection are in place. Each observatory is a fully autonomous unit, taking 36MP all-sky images (with fisheye lenses) throughout the night, capable of operating for 12 months in a harsh environment, and storing all imagery collected over that period. They are intelligent imaging systems, using neural network algorithms to recognize and report fireball events. An automated data reduction pipeline delivers orbital data and meteorite fall positions. Currently the DFN stands at 50 observing stations covering ~2.5 million km2. A sub-set of the existing stations will be upgraded with a parallel camera package using 50mm prime lenses. Paired stations will allow triangulation. The high resolution array would deliver a ~Gpixel tiled image of the visible sky every 10 sec, at 20 arcsec resolution, with a limiting magnitude of ~13 in a 10 sec snapshot. There are benefits in transient astronomy (optical flashes associated with gamma-ray bursts; flares from sources that generate ultra-high energy cosmic rays), and space situational awareness. The hardware upgrade would extend the resolution of the DFN into the V=11-12 magnitude range for objects in LEO, allowing us to observe significant activity during the terminator period. The result would be a wide field array, capable of triangulation, with a 3500km baseline enabling a larger terminator observing window.
Date of Conference: September 20-23, 2016
Track: Instrumentation & Optical Surveillance