Fireballs

... Reporting made easier

The challenge (1)

Most people who see a fireball :

• Were not expecting it to appear• Have no knowledge of the night sky

The challenge (2)

How to get people to supply the required details without scaring them off by being too technical ?

- Need to avoid using terms like azimuth, magnitude, UT, latitude/longitude

Who to report it to ?• BAA Meteor Section• SPA Meteor Section• Armagh Fireballs page• UKMON• AMS• BBC News• Astronomy Now• Sky at Night magazine• Facebook• Twitter

How to publish reports received?• Some groups have web pages that quickly display

received reports• AMS website• Armagh Fireballs page

• But its a lot of work to set up a system to quickly publish reports on-line

• Hence in many other cases, reports tend to languish hidden in email inboxes

• Fortunately, the IMO are offering help ...• http://fireballs.imo.net/?org=spa

Revised SPA Fireballs page

Fireball Report Form

No mention of latitude or longitude.

I’ve found that the simplest way to start is to enter your post code

The form then uses Google Maps to display an aerial view of your street ...

No mention of Universal Time or Time Zones.You‘ve already told it your location.You now enter the local timeAnd the form uses your location and the date to convert the local time to UT

No use of the word “azimuth” – works it out from where you click on the map

Magnitude range offered goes too high – encouraging witnesses to over-report it. Would be better to only show mag -4 to mag -14

1 = No knowledge of night sky ; 5 = Regular observerExperienced observer can use the final box to describe the fireball’s path relative to constellations & bright stars

This is the Thank You message that the witness receives.Note the “SPA” logo in this example. As an incentive to encourage groups to make use of the new form, the IMO will create branded versions. - these will include the group’s logo, links to the group’s Twitter, Facebook and Home pages and most importantly ....

... emails of the full report (including the witness contact details) to one or more supplied email addresses

Pending reports – despite the “in a few hours” comment on the Thank You form, reports usually appear here almost immediatelyClick on symbol at LHS to view details of each report

Examples of reports grouped into events.Default is to show all countries, but easy to restrict to a single countryClick on Event id to view a variety of maps

2015 Apr 26 Fireball : Heat Map

What the new form gives us• Provides an easy to use reporting tool • Provides an on-line database accessible by anyone • Less reports languishing in inboxes• The SPA MS already has a branded form• Do encourage people to use the form• http://fireballs.imo.net/?org=spa

Fireball camera networks

Halloween fireball (Richard Fleet)

Trajectory

Don’t leave it to the cameras !

• Cameras may be clouded/fogged out• Cameras may be pointing in the “wrong”

direction• Cameras miss fireballs during twilight• Add visual experience to reports

Why observe visually?

• Low cost, Low tech• Meteors more impressive when seen visually• Group watches can be a great social event

(and help you to keep alert)• Compare visual with images (a science bit)• Compare current visual with old visual reports

(more science)