PREDNASAJUCI / LECTURER :

Dušan Tomko

(1) Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
059 60 Tatranská Lomnica

NAZOV / TITLE :

Evolution of the bolide cameras in (czecho)Slovakia

ABSTRAKT / ABSTRACT :

The small bodies of the Solar System (asteroids, comets, Kuiper belt objects,
icy moons, rings, and dust) represent archives of the state of the proto-solar
disk at various times and places during the history of our Solar System’s formation.
Recently, there has been a significant increase in interest in the research of
small bodies of the Solar System in the whole range of their dimensions and masses.
Several of them can represent a potential danger to the Earth, and therefore the
efforts of astronomers are focused on the knowledge of this entire population and
its dynamic and physical characteristics.

When we look to the past, 1964-1985, all-sky cameras were operated in 9 locations
in Slovakia. These simple fireball cameras consisted of commercial cameras.
This system has a relatively low sensitivity, low accuracy of a meteor position.
The automated version of this camera was in operation at one Slovak station since
October 2007. In 2014, the first digital automated fireball observatory began
to function at Stará Lesná and in 2019 was installed spectral digital camera.
The second digital camera was installed in October 2016 at the Observatory at Kolonica
saddle and third one at the Observatory in Rimavská Sobota in June 2018. These cameras
cover the sky over Slovakia and the adjacent areas of Poland, Ukraine and Hungary.

I will give you briefly information about evolution of the bolide cameras at Astronomical
Institute SAS (or in Slovakia).