Liquid crystal shutters for meteor observing.

[Bill Ward]

Alex,

Downloaded the first paper by Steve you listed during my lunch. Interesting read. (Also glad to see my chop rates were in accordance with his determinations too…). I’ve not played with astrometrica for a LONG time. Working with DSLR images looks like it’ll be a bit of a challenge. But he’s laid down the gaunlet for a few arc sec precision to directly measure decelerations.

Ties in really nicely with the demand for high speed chopping (I take it that’s why he made the six slot shutter). This of course open up the challenge of making a 9 or 12 slot shutter for very high mechanical chop rates. The LCD’s start to show their convenience at this point.

Anyway, got plenty of things to do now to fill my staycation this summer!

You mentioned Edinburgh, will you be up for a couple of days? I’ll try and come through (by train this time) so we can finally have a few refreshments! Might even have some results should the weather cooperate for the Persieds.

cheers,

Bill.

[Alex Pratt]

Hi Bill,

It will be quite a bit of work to replicate Steve’s meteor analysis techniques from 20 years ago, but you should have a lot of fun in the process.

I’m considering changing my Leeds_N lens from a 12mm to an 8mm, to increase my coverage of the Borders and southern Scotland. This will increase our chances of recording more dual- and multi-station events.

Heavy snow put paid to my attendance at the ASE meeting in March so it’s been rearranged for October 5th. I’ll be in Edinburgh for a couple of days. I’ll keep you updated.

Cheers,

     Alex.

[Author]

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