Leonid Meteor Captured on new Wyze V3 camera!

A taser shock only lasts 5 seconds. It’s not that bad :slight_smile:

That is impressive. I can identify Orion and even Pleiades. To see Pleiades that well I have to look at it with my rods.

That’s cool, but how does one prove that it IS a meteorite? Short of sectioning it to analyze for materials unique to meteorites what distinguishes it from a bit of Terrestrial ferrous slag?

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there are many differences between terrestrial rock and things of extra terrestrial origin. there are a few test you can do right at home that can help narrow down the scope of what you have. this particular one is one that my mom bought for me for father day from a world famous meteorite hunter named Geoffrey Notkin who I have followed for years. its a fragment from one of the more famous meteorite falls known.

if you were to simply hold this thing you would know there is something vastly different about it. something quite, not of this earth. density is vastly more then earth rocks and it is iron. having been melted from when it came through the atmosphere it is quite uniquely shaped as well. it’s and odd feeling to have something not of this earth. :slight_smile:

I hope to make it out to Nevada sometime in the next year or so to do some meteor hunting of my own :sunglasses:

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I should have mentioned Taurus too. I found it hard to see it in the first, even though I know it is there (Pleiades is part of Taurus after all), but see it most clearly in the third video clip. You can actually find the head of Taurus in all three videos.

Next question is, can the V3 spot the ISS going over? Timing is of course everything in satellite spotting. Given that it resolves Pleiades quite well I expect that it can see the ISS. Looking at some sample pass data for ISS I see magnitudes ranging from -0.6 to 2.6, all brighter than the brightest start in the cluster. So it would seem a simple matter of camera placement on the right day.

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if it were to go into frame I have no doubt it would catch it! I have seen some V3’s catch planes going over which are much dimmer than the ISS.

I kept the V3 pointing straight up for three nights … 15, 16, 17th. The camera was set on “continuous recording.”

Some of the meteors/ferrous slag/ufo’s were bright enough to trigger and record an actual motion event … but most of my “captures” were found by scrolling, minute by minute through the continous recording on the sd card.

While scrolling through, I also picked up obvious airplanes (with flashing beacons) across the screen … but also caught numerous other “dim” items crossing all the way across the screen, at all different angles, which I assumed were satellites or maybe even the International Space Station.

Thing is, I’m not an expert at any of this stuff. But if the ISS crossed over the night sky in Illinois during those three nights and you could provide me with a time frame, I could upload an example of what I caught crossing the sky.

I won this V3 camera during the virtual Wyze Career Day a few weeks ago. But I was notified yesterday that my “pre-order” V3 was shipped. I imagine 1,000s of folks are going to have their hands on V3s in short order.

Hopefully someone a lot smarter than me will be able to upload GREAT examples of what’s in the night sky.

I’m the wrong guy to ask. Before receiving the V3, I’m not sure I even looked skyward … unless I happened to trip, fall and land on my back. Even then, I don’t know whether the stars I saw were from the bump in my head or actual stars in the sky.

@DraconisRex @ThreeTen @Bam @freelancertech

Ok, based on my Advanced Astrological Studies … (close to six days of staring at three days worth of nocturnal minute by minute V3 continuous motion videos) … I not venturing a guess as to what this is.

I’ve caught numerous Leonid meteors, a lot of obvious airplanes with blinking lights, a bunch of dimmer objects (satellites?) that crossed in straight lines across my screen, meteors exploding through the atmosphere with bright flashes, and some possible UFOs (Think War of the Worlds, the 1953 movie, not the crappy remake).

One of my professors, Dr. AconisRex, commented that the International Space Station would be an easy catch for the V3, based on stuff he said (that I wasn’t paying attention to, and probably wouldn’t understand anyway).

But one of the things Dr. AconisRex said was that the ISS would be brighter than any star (atleast I think that’s what he said). Other professors ventured various other opinions on my other posts.

Quite frankly, I’m waiting to see what other folks capture with their V3s in the night time sky. I’ve been notified my “pre-order” V3 is on the way as are lots of V3s for other folks.

But I am tagging all of my professors about what I captured in this video. (only uploading a 30 second clip with the object half-way across the screen)

By far, the object is the HIGHEST BRIGHTEST object I’ve managed to capture. Could it be the ISS? A satellite? An airplane?

Heck if I know.

And for those who like meteor pix … , a quick meteor (at least that’s what I’m calling it) appears center screen at 5:21:10.

But I’m done saying what’s what. I kind of feel like Charlie Brown, looking at clouds with a group of his well educated friends. Some times I just see a horsey in the sky.

But I’m excited that some V3 user in the very near future may be able to record (and identify) the International Space Center. That would be soooooo cool!

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thanks for the tag :slight_smile:

I would indeed say that you have caught a satellite there. there are a few things that lead me to this conclusion, but before I drop down that rabbit hole, I noticed that you are an apple user. I am not among those cohorts, but in a brief search I have come across a few apps you can use to track the international space station. I would recommend getting one and making an attempt of capturing it at some point. I use a couple everytime I have my telescope out and capturing the ISS is definitely something I am going to look into soon.

now on to the nerdery, watch your toes…science shall be dropped here :rofl:

SPEED- the object moving in your video is moving (relatively) slowly in the frame. satellites because they are at a generally higher orbit than the ISS appear to move much slower than the ISS which is only aprox. 250 miles up and moving at about 17000, miles per hour. where as most satellites are 160-1200 miles above the earth and with the increased distance appear to move much much slower. it only take the ISS about 90 seconds to 2 minutes tops to go from horizon to horizon depending on its angle.

BRIGHTNESS- this one is a bit trickier as atmospheric conditions and time in relation to the sun and the earths shadow can have a huge impact on this feature. but im going to say it was pretty clear considering what stars I can see here. so we can rule that out. but we will use size for brightness here. with the development of smaller satellites called "cube"sats, their size can get as small as a suitcase, but larger satellites can be as large as a school bus, those are generally use for communications. now that might seem big, and it does give them a lot of surface area to reflect sunlight off of, but this one looks quite dim in comparison to the stars around it. so what about the international space stations size you ask? well that monster is roughly the size of a football field. and because of it’s increased need for power it has huge solar panel wings too…lots and lots of surface area to reflect light…and being so much closer it is much brighter than anything in the sky with the exception of three things. those things are,

  1. the moon

  2. the planet venus

3 and you guessed it, our sun.

and luckily I didnt see any of the three here :wink:

so knowing all this and knowing how wide the V3’s field of vision is I am going to say that this is just a satellite ( this time) but with a little persistence and the right weather and a simple app I have no doubt you could be posting back here any time with a capture of the ISS. with most apps it will even tell you at what degree in the sky it will go across, so aiming your camera should be no problem. and considering they ( the astronauts in the ISS) orbit the earth every 90 minutes and cross over head every couple of weeks you will have plenty of opportunities.

and on a side note…that’s a great meteor capture too! {edit} if you could’ve caught that meteor streak in color I could’ve told you what metals where in it lol, I caught a majority nickel (the green color) meteor on dashcam a few years ago

nerdery rant over :slight_smile:

-your friendly neighborhood astronomer.

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Thank you Professor Bam. Makes me almost regret skipping so many of your Meteorology lectures back in college! I appreciate and somewhat understand the explanation.

As a solid D- student, it also “dawned” on me that the video recorded was about an hour before dawn CST. Stands to reason that the reason the satellite seemed brighter to me than my other suspected satellites was because more sunlight was available.

As you know, I’m on IOS. I’ll look for the ISS app. In the meantime, I’m hoping others give the night sky a shot with their new V3’s and do my homework (capture the ISS for extra credit) for me!

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It absolutely boggles-my-mind that the V3 Cam can capture objects like that in the distant night sky.

All plausible guesses :thinking:.

Thanks for making me smile, it’s a good analogy. When I expand your video to full screen… the movement of the object makes me think of an inch-worm crawling on a branch.

I appreciate the t@g @todwatts.

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“Holy Knowledgeable Astronomer @Bam -man (er, I mean Batman)”.

Alright, alright… I had to apply the brakes a minute so I could stop my head from spinning. Now, I need to figure-out who on Earth is this masked vigilante that lurks behind the @Bam handle.

My guess… Bam is a mild-mannered Forum Maven Master-Mind by day and someone with several degrees in the branches of Space Science by night (yes, yes… I realize my reference is for another character)?

All attempts at humor aside… I appreciate your interesting and informative explanation - thank you :artificial_satellite:.


Agreed @todwatts :clap:.

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thank you as well, I like being able to share this type of information with people and being able to combine that SUPRISINGLY with Wyze and boom…next level unlocked lol

I actually do the vigilante part…except it’s my job and sadly no mask needed so it doesn’t count as vigilantism, and I don’t have nearly as good of gadgets as Mister Wayne had…but I have some fun toys

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How do you WIN a v3 camera… AND get it delivered… before people that ordered during the very first pre-order… who still haven’t even received a shipping date?!

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This is cool! Amazing! It is indeed a proof of STAR light sensor.

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Now this gives me an idea of making an eyepiece telescope adapter for using the WYZE V3 camera for astro photography.

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Hi TWIG123. I was one of 10 people who won a “prize” during the day long virtual YouTube Wyze Career Day a few weeks ago.

It was a great look at the various careers and job opportunities available at Wyze. Did you watch it? I’d love to get a job there.

I believe you can still find the Wyze Career Day online.

Maybe @UserCustomerGwen can provide a link. I would encourage everyone interested in working at Wyze to check it out. There are a lot of interesting positions at the company.

Winners were announced at the end of the 8 hour event. My prize (unknown during the announcement) was this V3 camera that showed up about a week later.

There was another contest on the Gadget Reddit site where people won V3 cameras! That site often has contests for various hot new gadgets, from many different manufacturers.

I’m excited because a couple of days ago, I also receive a shipping notice from Wyze that my “pre-order” V3 was shipped and according to tracking, is going to be delivered today.

So have faith, soon everyone who ordered will
Have their V3s

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I’m just going to say what we’re all thinking – we need a wyze cam that attaches to a telescope.

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Actually I said that for the sample data I looked at, all apparent magnitude values for the ISS were brighter than the apparent brightness of the brightest star in the Pleiades Cluster. The apparent magnitude of the ISS is variable depending on numerous factors such as the distance of the viewer to the ISS, relative angle of the viewer to the ISS, relative angle of the ISS solar panels with respect to the viewer, how deep is the ISS in the Earth’s penumbra or is it in full sunlight, etc. etc. etc.

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