All-sky camera
A camera with a fisheye lens that watches the whole sky at once, automatically recording meteors and fireballs.
An all-sky camera uses an extremely wide-angle, or fisheye, lens to capture the entire sky from horizon to horizon in a single round image. Many are left running every night, linked to a computer that spots anything moving quickly and saves the video. Some groups use several narrower cameras instead, but the aim is the same: never miss a meteor.
When two or more cameras some distance apart record the same fireball, scientists can use the different viewpoints to work out its path through the atmosphere by triangulation, its speed and where any surviving pieces probably landed. They can also trace its orbit back into space to see which part of the Solar System it came from. Many networks of these cameras now cover Europe, North America and Australia.
The UK's Winchcombe meteorite shows how powerful this is. On 28 February 2021 a fireball was recorded by many cameras across Britain. Their data guided searchers to the area, and pieces of a rare carbonaceous chondrite were recovered within days, including fragments from a family's driveway. If you run a camera yourself, place it securely, check privacy around neighbours' homes and share your recordings with a network.
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Level: Explorer Ages 10 and up