This page lists some tools that will come in useful when performing lunar impact flash observations.
Detection software
Automatic Lunar Flash Investigation
The Automatic Lunar Flash Investigation (ALFI) has been created by T. Cook, University of Aberysthwyth, in 2017. It was funded by Horizon 2020, the Europlanet 2020 Reserach Infrastructure. It is a command-line tool which goes through a directory with bitmap (bmp) files and searches for impact flashes.
Flash Detection Software
The "Flash Detection Software" (FDS) was developed by the National Observatory of Athens (operator of the NELIOTA impact flash observing project) in 2022 (Bonanos et al.). This software has two modules:
1. A plugin to the freeware FireCapture. FireCapture will connect to your astronomical camera and stream the video to your PC. The plugin will look for potential impact flashes and store possible events. To be able to operate in real-time, the detection is 'on the safe side', it might have false detections.
2. Via a second step using a stand-alone tool, the saved data can be checked in more detail. This stand-alone tool can be run after the actual observation.
Note that currently, to use the data from step 1 in the tool for step 2, you need an additional Python routine to change the format of the data slightly. It can be downloaded here. To run it, delete the .txt extension. If you need help, contact me. A current drawback of the software is that it will generate lots of false detections when the illuminated part of the Moon is in the field of view. We are working on fixing this. If you are interested to contribute - and are fluent in Java - contact us.
Lunarscan
Lunarscan was developed by Pete Gural for NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. It ran using the DOS operating system. As far as I know, it is currently not available for download anymore (happy to learn that I am wrong - if so, just let me know!).
Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System
The Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System (MIDAS) was developed at the University of Huelva, Spain (J. M. Madiedo). It is being used in projects by that university. As far as I am now, it is not available for distribution.
Observation planning and recording
moon_planner.py (delete the extention .txt after downloading) - A Python script to plot the visibility of the Moon from a certain observer position. It allows the definition of a local horizon, and will show rise and set times of the Moon and the Sun, and the lunar phase. This is useful to plan when it makes sense to go out and observe the Moon. The custom horizon can be defined as simple comma-separated file giving azimuth and elevation. A short user manual can be found here.
An empty log sheet which you can use during your observations. It will help you to keep track of what you are doing, ensure that you prepare your observations properly and record everything that is need for later data evaluation. I normally fill this in by hand before and during my observations.
Hardware
Annoyingly, the Moon moves relative to the stars. Not only because it moves around the Earth, but also due to the fact that we are observing it from a position on the surface of the rotating Earth. This results in a daily north-south movement, in addition to an Eastward drift in the sky. If you have a perfectly aligned mount, you can use freely available software to ‘track’ the Moon - i.e. to blindly follow it. If you don't have a perfectly aligned mount, you can use a guider. Unfortunately, available guider systems typically are optimized for guiding on stars, not on extended objects. We have therefore developed a stand-alone unit that can be mounted on your telescope and actively guides your mount - if the mount has a standard ‘St-4’ guiding interface. The ‘MoonGuider’ is based on a Raspberry Pi with a high-resolution camera. More information can be found in the thesis by T. Kurz. We are currently optimizing the system, in particular by adding a ‘calibration’ routine. This will avoid you having to produce a setup file manually. Work in progress!
If you want an overview of the why and how for the MoonGuider, check out this presentation.
Other tools
I don't know which heading this one fits - we have an ‘impact flash simulator’. This is a Python program which uses OpenGL to simulate a realistic view of the Moon. It let's you generate impact flashes. It was written by Max Klass within the frame of his Master thesis at the University of Oldenburg, Germany. The thesis can be downloaded here. The code is on Gitlab.