<p>I was reading about the interstellar asteroid <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNEOS_2014-01-08" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CNEOS 2014-01-08</a> and learned that the US Space Force Command is able to track asteroids and meteors and that they share some of their data with NASA. The <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fireballs</a> API appears to provide some very high level data on where and when various bolides were detected, but little in the way of raw data that could be useful for origin analysis science. The following paragraph from <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.07224" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this paper</a> provides one example of what I mean by &quot;useful&quot;...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>... interstellar meteors ...
are optimal for a systematic study of physical extrasolar material (in addition to the spectroscopy of the hot gases as the meteor burns up). Since we expect interstellar meteors of this size to strike the Earth at least a few times per year, a network of all-sky camera systems monitoring the sky above all land on Earth could detect an interstellar meteor of this size every few years. Such detections can be made with science-grade video cameras, such as those used in AMOS, CAMO, and CAMS6 (Toth et al. 2015; Weryk et al. 2013).</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We therefore advocate for a network of all-sky camera
systems to conduct real-time remote spectroscopy of the
hot gases as r ≥ 5 × 10−2 m interstellar meteors burn
up, and to precisely determine their trajectories for the
immediate retrieval of interstellar meteorite samples.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Also, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth#:%7E:text=As%20sky%20surveys%20improve%2C%20smaller%20and%20smaller%20asteroids%20are%20regularly%20being%20discovered." rel="nofollow noreferrer">as sky surveys improve, smaller and smaller asteroids are regularly being discovered.</a> Potentially, with early detection, more advanced telescopes and radars could be alerted to improve the quality of the collected data.</p>
<p>Is this kind of data already out there? If so, can a citizen scientist to get their hands on it?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-26T15:59:44.620Z
The Global Meteor Network data may be of use https://globalmeteornetwork.org/data/
Greg Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-26T21:41:50.400Z
Note that almost no-one who isn't Avi Loeb believes that this object is interstellar. The data in the Fireballs is the best you are going to get because 1) the nature of these detections (a boom at a poorly localized 3D point) are inherently uncertain and 2) the data comes from "US Government Sensors" which is the official way of saying the assets looking for nuclear weapon tests. Since most/all things to do with nuclear weapons needs Q clearance, very, very few people get access to the low-level bolide data
astrosnapper
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-26T22:52:07.210Z
The US has spent billions on Ground-based Midcourse Defense. Why do you think that they can't track a bolide's flight path accurately with radar and other kinds of sensors?
phil1008
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-27T03:11:16.820Z
The link I posted above uses a world wide network of cameras to detect meteors, then compute the trajectory in 3D, and uses that to compute the orbit of the parent body.  No radar necessary (but I believe there are radar networks in use).
Greg Miller
<meteor><raw-data>
Accessing detailed bolide trajectory/spectroscopy data
phil1008
# Accessing detailed bolide trajectory/spectroscopy data

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-08-26)

I was reading about the interstellar asteroid [CNEOS 2014-01-08](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNEOS_2014-01-08) and learned that the US Space Force Command is able to track asteroids and meteors and that they share some of their data with NASA. The [Fireballs](https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/) API appears to provide some very high level data on where and when various bolides were detected, but little in the way of raw data that could be useful for origin analysis science. The following paragraph from [this paper](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.07224) provides one example of what I mean by "useful"...

> ... interstellar meteors ...
> are optimal for a systematic study of physical extrasolar material (in addition to the spectroscopy of the hot gases as the meteor burns up). Since we expect interstellar meteors of this size to strike the Earth at least a few times per year, a network of all-sky camera systems monitoring the sky above all land on Earth could detect an interstellar meteor of this size every few years. Such detections can be made with science-grade video cameras, such as those used in AMOS, CAMO, and CAMS6 (Toth et al. 2015; Weryk et al. 2013).

> We therefore advocate for a network of all-sky camera
> systems to conduct real-time remote spectroscopy of the
> hot gases as r ≥ 5 × 10−2 m interstellar meteors burn
> up, and to precisely determine their trajectories for the
> immediate retrieval of interstellar meteorite samples.

Also, [as sky surveys improve, smaller and smaller asteroids are regularly being discovered.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth#:%7E:text=As%20sky%20surveys%20improve%2C%20smaller%20and%20smaller%20asteroids%20are%20regularly%20being%20discovered.) Potentially, with early detection, more advanced telescopes and radars could be alerted to improve the quality of the collected data.

Is this kind of data already out there? If so, can a citizen scientist to get their hands on it?

**Tags:** meteor, raw-data

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The Global Meteor Network data may be of use https://globalmeteornetwork.org/data/  
> **username_2**: Note that almost no-one who isn't Avi Loeb believes that this object is interstellar. The data in the Fireballs is the best you are going to get because 1) the nature of these detections (a boom at a poorly localized 3D point) are inherently uncertain and 2) the data comes from "US Government Sensors" which is the official way of saying the assets looking for nuclear weapon tests. Since most/all things to do with nuclear weapons needs Q clearance, very, very few people get access to the low-level bolide data  
> **username_0**: The US has spent billions on Ground-based Midcourse Defense. Why do you think that they can't track a bolide's flight path accurately with radar and other kinds of sensors?  
> **username_1**: The link I posted above uses a world wide network of cameras to detect meteors, then compute the trajectory in 3D, and uses that to compute the orbit of the parent body.  No radar necessary (but I believe there are radar networks in use).  

---

## 0 answers

