RPi Meteor Camera

Introduction
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Every day, 10’s of tons of extra-terrestrial material falls onto the Earth. Although most of the particles are no bigger than grains of sand, when they hit our atmosphere they create the flashes of light that we often call ‘shooting stars.’ These meteors, as they are more properly known, occur at altitudes of between about 70 and 110km and are moving at speeds of between 11 and 72 km/s. And, with millions visible to the naked eye each day, we can’t help but wonder what they are and where they come from. To try to answer these questions, there are a number of different techniques that can be used. Two of the most basic are radar and optical observations. Radar is incredibly useful as it allows us to observe and compute orbits for some of the smallest particles that impact the Earth. However, it’s too costly for the amateur to produce meaningful information. Good optical observations, however, can be made cheaply and easily with a few pieces of basic equi