© Irkutst State UniversityOn a clear night, the equipment has registered up to 40 meteorites.
One early visitor: a fireball streaking across the sky and splashing into Lake Baikal.
The station is in remote Tunka valley, in the Republic of Buryatia, an ideal vantage point for observing incoming meteors because of the absence of artificial lighting. Created by the astronomical observatory of the Irkutsk State University (ISU), it operates from two unmanned modules some 58 kilometres apart.
This allows researchers to observe the same meteor from two different locations, and to measure its size, light energy, direction, weight of meteoric particles and other parameters, more precisely.
Kirill Ivanov, researcher at ISU's observatory, explained that the cameras are pointed in such a way that the centres of their field of view match at a height of about 100 km. 'They ensure maximum overlap of the field of view, two thirds, at a height of about 80-120 km. The data is stored in industrial computers.' On a clear night, the equipment has registered up to 40 meteorites.
© The Siberian TimesIt operates from two unmanned modules some 58 kilometres apart.
Comment: A couple of months ago a massive daytime meteor fireball was also witnessed in Thailand