Astronomical camera installed on Busselton Jetty

Suzanne AstonBusselton Dunsborough Times
Camera Icon" Scenes From Our Spectacular State" - The Busselton Jetty has always had a great appeal for me, whether I am fishing or walking along chatting to people fishing, strolling along at sunset, snorkelling or watching the annual jetty swim, and Iron-Man starts. On this night I was in search of a lightning shot, didnêt capture any but this slightly over-exposed shot bought out the colour of the Jetty. Jo Bussell 19 Foursomes Rd Busselton WA 6280 97515808 Credit: Jo Bussell/Supplied by Subject

A brand new camera capturing time lapse images of the night skies over the Busselton Jetty is now producing data that is being shared with the Global Meteor Network.

The camera was installed in December as part of a Perth Observatory project, and was funded with a grant from Inspiring Western Australia.

Inspiring WA is a government program aimed at engaging all Australians with STEM — science, technology, engineering and maths.

Busselton Jetty chief executive Lisa Shreeve is excited about the latest addition to the jetty.

“We already have two underwater cameras, and another camera studying the ocean, so adding this camera made great sense, and the astronomers are already doing a great job of assessing all the data,” Ms Shreeve said.

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The jetty’s night sky camera is now part of the Global Meteor Network, contributing valuable data used worldwide for understanding celestial events.

The data will also be available for STEM educators through outreach programs.

Since being installed the camera has been capturing time lapse images of glimmering stars, bright moonlight, drifting clouds, satellites in orbit and the occasional flash of meteors.

The camera’s feed is not yet live on the jetty website but technicians are are working on getting a live stream online for all to view.

This initiative is supported by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation, and Scitech.

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