Flashes of the Universe

What is a meteoroid?

It is a solid object of natural origin that orbits around the Sun, and which is between 30 microns and one metre in size.

What is a meteor?

It is the phenomenon that occurs when a meteoroid crosses the atmosphere at high speed. It includes the emission of light, heat, sound, ionization, etc. Meteors brighter than the planet Venus are called bolides. Meteors are often referred to in a non-scientific context as "shooting stars".

What is a meteorite?

It is the remains of a meteoroid that overcomes the meteor phase without completely disintegrating in the atmosphere and reaches the ground.

What is a "meteor shower"?

It is a group of meteors produced by a set of meteoroids with a common origin and very similar orbits. Most of the meteors observed are unrelated to each other; they are called sporadic because they cannot be associated with a single comet/asteroid generator. At certain times of the year, however, the Earth passes through filaments of matter produced by the same comet/asteroid. The particles that form these filaments give rise to meteor showers (or even storms). All the meteors in a shower appear to come from the same point in the sky called the radiant. This is a perspective effect similar to that produced when the edges of a road converge in the distance, and is due to the fact that the trajectories of the particles in space are parallel.

Where are the images obtained from?

They are images captured by all-sky cameras distributed throughout the Spanish Peninsula and the Canary Islands. Most of these cameras belong to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid has two installed at the Montegancedo University Campus (Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain) and the Agrupación de Astronomía de Madrid Sur has another one at its Aula de Astronomía headquarters (Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain).

Isn't there a software that does this task?

We use a software that detects motion and then with another software we are able to discard the images that do not contain relevant information. However, the software is not able to distinguish between the different possible objects in the images. For that reason, we need human validation.

Why do we ask to mark a line on the meteor?

If several captures of the same meteor were taken from different cameras at different locations, it would be possible to calculate the trajectory and know the approximate coordinates of impact on the Earth's surface, with the possibility of finding the meteorite. Analyzing the composition of a meteorite provides invaluable information about the Solar System.

Why do we ask to mark the thickness of the meteor?

If it is a very large flash, it will correspond to a larger size of the object and, therefore, the greater the probability that the piece of rock has not vaporized and reached the ground.

I have a sky camera and I would like to share my images, is it possible?

It is possible and fantastic! The more images, the more information for scientists. Contact us and we will help you with the steps to share your images.

What do we use the data for?

Right now we are crossing the data from meteors recorded with the sky cameras with the data we get from several radio detection antennas (used in the Sounds of the Sky project). Our goal is to match the optical counterpart of the radio-recorded meteors.

What happens if I do not classify the image properly?

It's alright. Many volunteers classify the same subject