Expanding the camera network: Meteor research connecting Central Europe and the southern sky in Chile

From a Czech observatory to the starry skies of the Chilean Andes. A journey that links two hemispheres with a single goal: to capture traces of the Solar System’s past — and it is exactly their capture and analysis that connects the European sky with Chilean heights. A new network of cameras and spectrographs tracks meteors, revealing the chemical composition of ancient bodies and perhaps even the very origin of planets. Behind the technical progress lie months of preparation, testing, and demanding installation under the challenging conditions of South America. How did the Czech team set out to meet the Universe — and why is the southern sky just as vital for research?

The beginnings of meteor research connecting Central Europe with the southern sky in Chile go back to the first sky-monitoring cameras in our region in May 2010. Looking to the more recent past, we must stop in January 2024, when the lengthy selection and testing of all components of a new, more modern camera network began — a network that now serves our observatory and the entire CEMeNt system (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).

Everything began with the choice of the basic building block of the system — overview (wide-angle) cameras intended for computing meteor trajectories — specifically the Sony Starvis Full HD sensor. We selected the newest generation, Sony Starvis 2 IMX 327. Next came the choice of a reliable method to transfer the camera signal to the PC. After ruling out USB and IP options, we chose an AHD system — analog over coaxial cable. For conversion from analog to digital we selected a two-stage chain (AHD→HDMI and HDMI→USB 3.2). In July, we could finally begin prototype testing at the Valašské Meziříčí Observatory. We then replaced the existing PAL cameras at the observatory with wide-angle FHD cameras using the IMX 327, which later rolled out across the entire CEMeNt network. By October the system proved itself in full test operation, including multi-station trajectory computation and validation of results.

After completing this work in October 2024, preparations for the journey to Chile began, and the long process of selecting and testing suitable system components started again.

As part of the technical preparations for the spectrographs, which needed high sensitivity across the visible spectrum with emphasis on the near-UV (given the high altitude of the Chilean stations), we chose the Sony IMX 678 sensor. We prioritized resolution (8 MPx), high sensitivity, and a rectangular field of view (16:9), which is well-suited to recording spectra.

Regarding other preparations, in November we met with the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences about placing the main part of the system on the building of the Czech 152-cm telescope (E152) at La Silla Observatory. With the help of the Czech Embassy in Chile and R. Angeloni (NOIRLab), we continued searching for a suitable location for the auxiliary part of the system at an ideal distance of about 100 km from La Silla Observatory. Due to unsuitable facilities and overall conditions, Observatorio Pangue was rejected, so the choice fell on Observatorio El Sauce.

Once the future homes of our cameras were agreed upon, we set about creating the complete system architecture, designing the overview cameras and spectrographs, PC stations and data backup, cable routes, signal distribution, and power — including a line-item budget. That kept us busy for the rest of November. In December we launched procurement to select a supplier for the complete system; all parts arrived at our observatory in March (Fig. 3). After signing the agreement with the Astronomical Institute for the main station at La Silla, we again comprehensively tested all functional elements (cameras, PC stations, switchboards, backups, etc.) as well as long-duration tests of complete camera and spectrograph setups. In April we selected Merka Spedition to transport the equipment to La Silla and signed the placement agreement for the auxiliary system at El Sauce. Before shipping everything, the hardest work awaited us: assembling full installation kits for both stations and packing them into transport cases. After preparing the paperwork for the shipment to La Silla, on 30 April 2025 the freight company picked up both cases. The trip went well, and on 15 May 2025 the equipment was delivered to La Silla Observatory (Fig. 4).

Observing and recording the sky with cameras and spectrographs brings valuable insights. It allows us to study the elemental composition of interplanetary matter of various sizes entering our atmosphere — and thereby determine their origin. Cameras capture a meteor’s luminous path across the sky, which enables us to determine its speed, height above Earth’s surface, orbit, and potential parent body. A meteor is a luminous phenomenon that occurs when a meteoroid — a small body originating, for example, from a comet or asteroid — enters Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed (tens of km/s). Due to friction, it heats up, glows, and usually vaporizes. If the meteoroid survives the atmospheric passage and reaches the ground, we call it a meteorite. The second instrument, the spectrograph — which records the meteor’s light as a spectrum thanks to the physical phenomenon of diffraction on a grating — reveals the body’s chemical composition and thus provides important insights into the evolution of the Solar System (Fig. 5).

“In this way we map, on a global scale, the composition of asteroids and the original building material from which the planets formed. In the future, these analyses can also indicate where, for example, we might look for natural resources on near-Earth bodies,” explained RNDr. Martin Ferus, Ph.D., head of the spectroscopy department at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. “Statistical analysis of hundreds to thousands of meteors makes it possible to trace how elements are distributed throughout the Solar System, which types of bodies contribute to that distribution, and what geochemical and gravitational processes operated in the early evolution of planetesimals.”

And that is precisely why a camera network only in Europe is not enough. Only observations from as many places in the world as possible will deliver the greatest number and quality of results. Why Chilean observatories? It’s explained by Ing. Jakub Koukal, the designer of the observing system’s technical solution and a specialist at the Valašské Meziříčí Observatory: “The altitude of both observatories will markedly improve the analysis of meteor spectra. What’s more, these regions can have up to 300 clear nights per year (in CZ we have only about 200), which will significantly raise the number of records — according to the first analyzed nights, by up to a factor of three. Meteor showers in the Southern Hemisphere are also far less intensively monitored than in the Northern Hemisphere, so we’re very curious what we’ll find in the southern sky.” Our observatory thus plays a significant role in important research that can reveal much, as Dr. Ferus says: Meteors are keys to the past of the Solar System — every body carries information about its origin, composition, and history. Only their large-scale study lets us piece together the overall picture of what the planets — including Earth — formed from and how.”

How did our team’s journey to Chile unfold? What did assembling the instruments for two stations in the Atacama Desert at La Silla and El Sauce involve? What challenges did our staff face, and what all had to be done to get the cameras and spectrographs fully up and running? We’ll describe it soon in the next part, Installation of the observing system: Meteor research connecting Central Europe and the southern sky in Chile. You can find more about the technical equipment and first results in the article Southern Spectroscopic Observatory of the Valašské Meziříčí Observatory .