Bill Ward

Long time meteor observer interested in applying the latest technology to develop new observing capabilities. Captivated by meteors after I first observed the Geminids in 1980. Have dabbled in most things astronomical over the years. Have done quite a bit of solar observing and a lot of aurora observing! I find spectroscopy fascinating and have built several spectroscopes. I enjoy observing and imaging comets when they grace the sky, they are quite intriguing objects... and when all this astronomically sourced dust settles into our atmosphere... I've been observing NLC almost every year since 1986. (I believe) I was the first person in the UK to use "UFO capture" meteor detection software ~2006. Firstly by scanning VHS tapes then live observations with a PC. After many postings this generated the interest that has resulted in the large number of video observers and coordinated groups we have today.  I was also the first person to use video spectroscopy to observe the evolution of the meteor head spectrum.  I have also captured the highest resolution video meteor spectrum by a UK observer (possibly even globally...) at ~0.4nm/pix in 2020/2021. I spent two spells working in Australia, firstly at the AAO using the 3.9m AAT and the IRIS camera to map the Rho Ophiuchus dark cloud at 2.2 microns and then the UKSTU on the Second Epoch survey. (Whilst there I had the extremely good fortune of meeting up with Dr Doug Milne who was the senior radio physicist with the CSIRO. This led to some part time work at the Parkes 64m Radio Telescope and some related part time study of pulsars with Dick Manchester!) After that I worked as the Chief Optical and Laser Technician at the University of Glasgow for over 20 years. I used all of my meteor observations and publications to apply for a PhD which to my surprise I was awarded! I now work as the Technical Manager for the School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of the West of Scotland. I continue to develop my meteor observing systems (VAMOS, NOVEX, ASI, HIREMS and (currently 2023/2024) HIREMS II) and have captured even higher resolution spectra in 2022/2023, down to ~0.25nm/pix in the first order. The next project is SHRcam, a super high resolution camera/spectrographic system using a 39 mega pixel medium format sized CCD. I still need some bits but it should be operational late 2024. After some 12 years of observing and over 1300 spectra I discovered that on the broadest of measures, there are only three principle types of meteoroid entering the Earths atmosphere. I put this discovery into a new classification scheme. This new scheme was described and published in The Astronomer, Sept 2023 and the Proceedings on the International Meteor Conference, Radu, 2023. Update Oct 2024. SHRCam in now complete. I now just need to get some good weather to use it! Also HIRES II has captured what IS the most detailed video meteor spectrum ever with over 140 lines present and a resolution of ~0.14nm/pix. (See forum for images)