During November, 2018, CAMS-Florida contributed 374 orbits to the NASA CAMS project led by Peter Jenniskens. Individual CAMS-Florida sites contributed as follows to the orbit counts:
- 230 (Gainesville) – 136
- 231 (New Smyrna Beach) – 193
- 232 (New Smyrna Beach) – 154
- 233 (Florida Tech) – 128
- 234 (Gainesville) – 110
- 5004 (Gainesville) – 8
- 5005 (Gainesville) – 130
- 5006 (Gainesville) – 44
- 5007 (Gainesville) – 2
Camera operators are Barbara Harris (New Smyrna Beach), Vicky Jenne (Florida Tech), Matt Marquart (Florida Tech) and Andreas (Andy) Howell (Gainesville). Pictured are Andy Howell and Barbara Harris at her observatory in New Smyrna Beach. CAMS 232 is visible behind them on the hand railing.
Cameras 5004-5007 are part of the 8-camera CAMS setup in Gainesville. The photo shows the 8-camera enclosure on top of a pole that also supports CAMS 230 and CAMS 234. The eight cameras sit beneath an 10-inch acrylic dome, providing 360 degree coverage of the sky. An acrylic dome rather than flat glass plate is used, because it drains water better during summertime, when it rains every afternoon. The cameras are the Mallincam Micro-Ex that use the Sony ICX 672 CCD chip. Each camera is fitted with an 8mm f/1.0 lens that provides 26 degree x 35 degree sky coverage. Each of the two ethernet cables exiting the enclosure carries video signal from four cameras to the central computer. The faintest meteors imaged are magnitude 3-4 from a suburban location which has moderate light pollution.
More 8-camera installations are planned to join CAMS-Florida during 2019. These will enable CAMS-Florida to contribute many more coincident orbits to the CAMS project.
