21. The separation of small particles from meteor bodies, and its influence on some parameters of meteors

Abstract

The separation of very small particles from meteor bodies as a part of the process of their ablation in the Earth's atmosphere is assumed by many investigators. But when the particle is small relative to the meteor body the path of the particle is a priori thought to be small relative to the length of the meteor path, i.e. the particle is expected to evaporate in close proximity to the point of separation. This assumption is not acceptable after McCrosky's work (1958) that has shown for one particular case the small particles (m = 10−5−10−6 g) go a long path before their mass is exhausted. The assumption made until now has caused incorrect conclusions, e.g. the luminosity at any point of the meteor path is proportional to the mass ablated from the meteor body at that point (Kramer, 1965).