What is the European Fireball Network and how does it work?

The European Fireball Network (EN) is a long-term experiment based on the systematic observation of meteors and fireballs through an extensive network of all-sky photographic cameras located mainly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. The coordination of the network and the processing of all observed data has been carried out at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Ondřejov for decades.

The main task of this network is to capture as many bright fireballs as possible, analyze their trajectories and speeds, and use this data to deduce the physical properties of the bodies that cause them, as well as their origin in the Solar System (further information here).

The role of IP cameras and the importance of installation in Opava

Traditional bolide network devices are cameras with wide-angle fisheye lenses that photographically record the entire sky throughout the night. These cameras operate automatically and take long exposures, in which bright meteors appear as straight light trails. After 2017, additional recording equipment was added to the Czech part of the EN as a supplement to the photographic cameras. These were IP cameras that record video throughout the day. Data from IP cameras is mainly used to describe the fragmentation of bolides and to refine the course of their dynamics.

The new IP cameras on the Opava tower thus represent a technical addition to the main photographic cameras. They are not primarily intended for detailed photogrammetry of meteors, like traditional bolide cameras, but they allow for accurate determination of the speed of distant bolides, which appear to move slowly just above the horizon and whose speed cannot be determined using photographic cameras. IP cameras thus complement and expand the range of data that scientists collect about these phenomena.

Namely:

• The western camera located on the tower is crucial for observing fireballs over the Czech Republic during daylight hours and at dawn or dusk – i.e., at times when conventional all-sky cameras have limited functionality.
• The northern and eastern cameras, on the other hand, help to better capture bolides flying over northern and eastern Poland.

This gives astronomers a new perspective, allowing them to describe meteor trajectories more accurately and combine individual images from different locations.

What observations of meteorites and fireballs tell us about our universe

Observing and researching meteorite material that enters the Earth's atmosphere at speeds of tens of kilometers per second is extremely valuable to scientists. Data from observations enable:

• determine flight paths and calculate the trajectories of meteoroids in the Solar System
• estimate whether part of the body could have survived as a meteorite hitting the Earth's surface
• analyze the physical properties and composition of these bodies, which helps to better understand their origin—whether they are remnants of comets, asteroids, or other cosmic objects
• in some cases predict where meteorites might land, and then actually find them on the ground and analyze them in a laboratory.

Such observations contribute to a fundamental expansion of our knowledge not only about meteor phenomena, but also about the overall dynamics of small bodies in the Solar System.

Practical benefits for research and the public

The installation of IP cameras in Opava yielded results in the first few months of operation – the cameras recorded bright meteors even in situations where traditional cameras did not work due to light conditions on the horizon. These images and videos are quickly becoming part of a large data set that scientists are archiving and analyzing in detail over the long term.

In addition, bright fireballs often attract a large number of random witnesses who ask where it flew and whether a meteorite could have fallen to the Earth's surface. Cameras help us answer these questions. People often see a fireball low above the horizon and think that it happened not far from them. In reality, however, the fireball flew hundreds of kilometers away. The Opava cameras (those pointing north and east) were selected to enable the recording of distant fireballs.

Contact details and other information:

RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D.

Authors of the article: Tomáš Gráf, Lukáš Shrbený, Jiří Borovička, Pavel Spurný and ChatGPT 5.2