Flux of optical meteors down to Mpg = +12

Abstract

Observations of the flux of optical meteors down to photographic magnitudes of +12 are reported. The meteors were detected by photometry using a 10-m optical reflector from December 12-15, 1974, during the Geminid shower. A total of 2222 light pulses is identified as coming from meteors within the 1 deg field of view of the detector, most of which correspond to sporadic meteors traversing the detector beam at various angles and velocities and do not differ with the date, indicating that the Geminid contribution at faint luminosities is small compared to the sporadic contribution. A rate of 1.1 to 3.3 x 10 to the -12th meteors/sq cm per sec is obtained together with a power law meteor spectrum which is used to derive a relationship between cumulative meteor flux and magnitude which is linear for magnitudes from -2.4 through +12. Expressions for the cumulative flux upon the earth's atmosphere and at a test surface at 1 AU far from the earth as a function of magnitude are also obtained along with an estimate of the cumulative number density of particles.