MIDAS: Software for the detection and analysis of lunar impact flashes

TL;DR

MIDAS is a software tool designed to detect and analyze lunar impact flashes using small telescopes and CCD cameras, providing photometric analysis and meteoroid source identification.

Contribution

This paper introduces MIDAS, a novel software package that automates detection, photometric analysis, and source attribution of lunar impact flashes.

Findings

Successfully detected lunar impact flashes

Estimated luminous efficiency of meteoroids

Identified likely meteoroid sources

Abstract

Since 2009 we are running a project to identify flashes produced by the impact of meteoroids on the surface of the Moon. For this purpose we are employing small telescopes and high-sensitivity CCD video cameras. To automatically identify these events a software package called MIDAS was developed and tested. This package can also perform the photometric analysis of these flashes and estimate the value of the luminous efficiency. Besides, we have implemented in MIDAS a new method to establish which is the likely source of the meteoroids (known meteoroid stream or sporadic background). The main features of this computer program are analyzed here, and some examples of lunar impact events are presented.