We often celebrate the video recordings, or detections, of fireballs by StAnD Meteor Camera Kits in our news, and now, thanks to the PRISMA All-Sky Camera Analysis Laboratory (PASCAL), a specialised application, the data from StAnD and PRISMA networks can be exploited by any school wishing to participate!
The StAnD and PRISMA (the First Italian Network for the Systematic Surveillance of Meteors and the Atmosphere) networks were set up to determine the geometrical, physical, and orbital parameters of meteoroids (mostly fireballs and bolides) detected in the Earth’s atmosphere at night. By precise tracking of the trajectory of these meteors, students can understand if fragments have fallen to Earth, and they can calculate the area where they may have fallen.
The PASCAL app, developed by the INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino team led by Dario Barghini, has been designed and developed to visualise and analyse the calibration and fireball data acquired by the all-sky cameras of the PRISMA and StAnD projects. PASCAL can be used to analyze the data of a fireball detected by two or more PRISMA and/or StAnD cameras. The combination of the data from two or more stations makes it possible to triangulate the bolide’s trajectory in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Teachers can freely use a selection of fireball detections through PASCAL to implement this triangulation laboratory in their classroom. And schools equipped with the StAnD Meteor Camera Kits can access their data directly from the browser interface of the kit and can cooperate to combine their fireball detections and implement the laboratory. We look forward to hearing more from StAnD schools!