About UACN
The UAE Astronomical Cameras Network (UACN) is an activity done in cooperation between the International Astronomical Center (IAC), the UAE Space Agency, and the SETI Institute. It consists of sky-pointed astronomical cameras located at several locations in the United Arab Emirates. The cameras automatically record a video file once a meteor is detected. That meteor might just be part of a meteor shower, or it could be a meteorite fall or the reentry of satellite debris! When that meteor is captured from more than one site, its trajectory is calculated so that the meteor shower of origin can be determined, as well as the location of meteorite impact sites in case a meteorite fall happens over the UAE.
Phase one of this project consists of three stations called UACN1, UACN2 and UACN3. Since 28 January 2016, station UACN1 is operational and is contributing data. Each station has 17 cameras, 16 of which are running as one fly's eye camera that covers the sky above 30 degrees altitude. These 16 cameras are operated as part of the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) project, which is a NASA/SETI Institute automated video surveillance of the night sky in search of meteor showers to validate the IAU working list of meteor showers. The 17th camera has a wide-angle lens to cover the whole sky above 20 degrees altitude in one image. This camera operates independently of the CAMS project and is run by UFOCapture software. This camera can record deeper penetrating parts of bright meteors and satellite reentries. The below map shows the location of the operational (UACN1) and planned stations (UACN2 and UACN3).
Phase one of this project consists of three stations called UACN1, UACN2 and UACN3. Since 28 January 2016, station UACN1 is operational and is contributing data. Each station has 17 cameras, 16 of which are running as one fly's eye camera that covers the sky above 30 degrees altitude. These 16 cameras are operated as part of the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) project, which is a NASA/SETI Institute automated video surveillance of the night sky in search of meteor showers to validate the IAU working list of meteor showers. The 17th camera has a wide-angle lens to cover the whole sky above 20 degrees altitude in one image. This camera operates independently of the CAMS project and is run by UFOCapture software. This camera can record deeper penetrating parts of bright meteors and satellite reentries. The below map shows the location of the operational (UACN1) and planned stations (UACN2 and UACN3).
UACN Photos
Acknowledgments
The project is supported by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency. We would like to thank the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) for providing several free data packages to transfer the data from the stations to the main center in Abu Dhabi.
