9. The influence of exposure duration and trail orientation on photographic meteor spectra

Abstract

The effects on photographic meteor spectra produced by an occulting shutter and by the geometric orientation of the trail with respect to the camera are considered. A Perseid meteor photographed with both an occulted and unocculted spectrograph shows that large changes in the relative intensity of spectral lines can be caused by a shutter. The strong wake spectrum of this meteor is studied and a classification of multiplets according to duration and wake intensity is presented. It is emphazised that a strong wake is produced by a coasting gas rather than by particles or droplets. The gas may coast an appreciable distance during the radiating lifetime of some multiplets.The spectrum of a bright Quadrantid meteor is used to show that long-duration multiplets are strongly enhanced when the orientation of the trail lengthens the effective path length of the wake column, i.e., the meteor is observed near its radiant. The abundance of calcium appears to be above average in this meteor.Multiple photographs of the λ5577 line of neutral oxygen have been secured showing a decay time in excess of 1·5 sec. The decay is more rapid at lower heights and it appears that the mechanism of excitation to the metastable level operates for an interval of about 0·1 sec.As more accurate photometry of meteor spectra is achieved it will be essential to give careful attention to all of these effects.