Abstract
AbstractThe advancement in the acquisition of spectral data from meteors, as well as the capability to analyze meteoritic entries in ground testing facilities, requires the assessment of the performance of software tools for the simulation of spectra for different species. The Plasma Radiation Database, PARADE, is a line‐by‐line emission calculation tool. This article presents the extensions implemented for the simulation of meteor entries with the additional atomic species Na, K, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ca, Ni, Co, Mg, Si, and Li. These atoms are simulated and compared to ground testing spectra and to observed spectra from the CILBO observatory. The diatomic molecules AlO and TiO have now been added to the PARADE database. The molecule implementations have been compared to the results of a simple analytical program designed to approximate the vibrational band emission of diatomic molecules. AlO and TiO have been identified during the airborne observation campaigns of re‐entering man‐made objects WT1190F and CYGNUS OA6. Comparisons are provided showing reasonable agreement between observation and simulation.
Highlights
The observation of a meteor in Earth’s atmosphere is probably one of the oldest astronomical observations (Oepik 1958)
Meteor spectroscopy became of higher scientific interest in the 20th century with the advent of useful prism photographic systems and extensive studies of meteor spectra started in the second half of the 20th century when transmission gratings became available (Millman 1932) and the acquisition of higher resolution photographic spectra was developed
The requirement to simulate meteor spectra was the motivation for the extension of the European Plasma Radiation Database (PARADE) presented in this study
Summary
The observation of a meteor in Earth’s atmosphere is probably one of the oldest astronomical observations (Oepik 1958). With an appropriate radiation simulation code, this spectrum can be investigated, atomic and molecular lines can be identified, and the atmospheric entry can be analyzed; for example, temperatures and ablation processes can be identified if the temporal behavior of an emission line were considered, too (upper right figure). The requirement to simulate meteor spectra was the motivation for the extension of the European Plasma Radiation Database (PARADE) presented in this study. Sodium, and magnesium are identified along with molecular band radiation of aluminum oxide (AlO) These data sets are used for applying the newly implemented AlO emission in PARADE. (Langhoff 1997), and besides the interest in meteor research, TiO is of importance when the observation of re-entries of space structures is considered (Jenniskens et al 2016)
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