The "European Fireball Network": Current status and future prospects

Among the three large camera networks carrying out fireball observations through the seventies and eighties, the "European Fireball Network" is the last one still in operation. The network today consists of more than 34 all-sky and fish-eye cameras deployed with similar to 100 km spacing and covering an area of similar to 10(6) km(2), in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Germany, as well as parts of Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. Network operation results in similar to 10 000 image exposures per year, which represent on average 1200 h of clear sky observations-as imaging periods are restricted due to daylight, moonlight, and clouds. The cameras detect currently large meteors at a rate of similar to 50 per year; this is in good agreement with the encounter rates determined in previous fireball studies. From sightings of "meteorite candidates" (fireballs that may have deposited meteorites) and meteorite recoveries in the network area, we estimate that 15% of the influx of meteoritic matter is currently observed by the cameras, whereas <1% is recovered on the ground. Issues to be addressed by future fireball observations include the study of very large meteoroids (>1000 kg) for which statistics are currently very poor and an examination of their relationship to NEOs (near-Earth objects) identified by current NEO search programs.