Meteor Scan MaximDL Plugin
This plugin for MaximDL takes a continual series of sky images and automatically scans them looking for meteor trails.
Usage:
Upon launching the plugin a setup dialogue is displayed which allows configuration of the scanner.
The plugin works by continually taking exposures of the specified duration, then scanning them looking for potential meteor trails using the specified parameters. If a candidate feature is found, the image is saved in the same directory as the plugin was launched from for subsequent review.
The first check on the new image is comparing the average ADU with the specified cloud level. If the average exceeds the cloud level, the next image it captured. This avoids bogus detections on cloudy nights, or during daylight/twilight hours.
Feature detection works by subtracting the previous image from the new image, then scanning the diff image for pixels exceeding the difference threshold ADU. Once a bright pixel is found, the plugin follows the pixels around it which also exceed the threshold, measuring the width and length of the bright feature. If the ratio of the width to length of the feature exceeds the dimension ratio, the difference and original trail images are saved to the same directory the plugin was launched from, for later manual examination.
Config options:
· Exposure time = Time per exposure in seconds.
· Difference threshold = ADU count above background of features to be considered as potential trails.
· Dimension ratio = The minimum width/length ratio of features to be considered trails.
· Cloud threshold = If the average image is above this ADU count the image is not analyzed.
Version history:
v1.0 - Initial release.
MeteorScan v1.0
If you download this to give it a go, please post feedback on the MaximDL
Yahoo group, or email me directly at: winfij_AT_gmail_DOT_com
One final note - if you have any errors, please note the exact error messages
and let me know!
Regards,
John