The “Mobile Observation of Meteor” (MoMET) device

Abstract

Meteor shower outbursts happen every year, but cannot be observed by a single meteor camera network. In addition, bad weather might prevent the recording of such event. In order to enable the observation of meteor shower outburst, we developed a "Mobile Observation of METeor" device. It involves two suitcases for meteor double station observations. Each case includes a total of 5 cameras to maximise the scientific output. Each camera is controlled by a mini-PC (RaspBerry pi or Odroid) and runs the "RMS" software (Vida et al. 2021, MNRAS, 506, 4, 5046). The MoMET devices were successfully used to record the 2021 Arids meteor shower from Chile.

Radar Observations of the Arid Meteor Shower Outburst from Comet 15P/Finlay

“…We record a peak flux of 0.36 meteoroids km −2 hr −1 down to a +9 mag limit on October 7 1:00 UTC, which corresponds to a flux of 0.073 meteoroids km −2 hr −1 at a +6.5 mag limit. This peak flux corresponds to a ZHR of 491 hr −1 , which it is three times higher than those predicted by Vaubaillon et al (2020) and somewhat agree with the lower limit of the predictions by Ye et al (2021).…”

“…The location of the radiant resulting from SAAMER-OS observations is in agreement with past predictions (Ye et al 2015;Ishiguro et al 2016;Vaubaillon et al 2020). As summarized in Ye et al (2021), the predicted encounter with the 2014 Finlay ejecta is between approximately 2021 October 6, 2200 UT, and 2021 October 7, 0100 UT, centered at 255°.5 < α < 256°.3 and −48°.3 < δ < −48°.5.…”

“…The time of occurrence of the two detected peaks are in good agreement with prediction of this shower reported by several authors, confirming the validity of the model used for the predictions. The ZHR determined in this work, however, is three times higher than that predicted by Vaubaillon et al (2020) and somewhat agree with the lower limit of the predictions by Ye et al (2021).…”

“…The predictions of the magnitude of the activity however varied by three orders of magnitude (Ye et al 2021). However, only Vaubaillon et al (2020) predicted the occurrence of the earlier outburst produced by Finlay in 1995 at λ 0 = 186.1 (2021 September 29 at ∼08:00 UT) located at (α, δ) = (260°.8, −57°.4), in excellent agreement with the SAAMER-OS observations. Jenniskens et al (2021b) also reported observations of the second outburst with CAMS with a total of 33 Arid meteors using stations located in Chile, Namibia, Texas, and Australia between October 6 11:04 and October 7 04:10 UTC.…”

“…As previously hypothesized, the shower was expected to have a southerly radiant (favoring Southern Hemisphere observers) in the constellation of Ara, and we refer to it as the Arid meteor shower hereafter. Later, Vaubaillon et al (2020), reported simulations of meteoroid streams ejected by Finlay and predicted a meteor shower in 2021, but unlike Ye et al (2015), they showed it was caused by the trails ejected in 1995 and 2008 in addition to the one observed in 2014. The authors predicted a peak as early as the morning of 2021 September 29 due to the 1995 ejections and two different events on the morning of 2021 October 7 separated by three hours due to the 2008 and 2014 ejections, somewhat in agreement with Ye et al (2015).…”