Meteor Observations Research Articles

A synthetical index of the potential threats about intense activities of meteors

In the present age, several techniques for the application to the observation of meteors and meteor showers have been developed in modern meteor astronomy. The initial definition for a meteor storm based on the visual observation with a Zenithal Hourly Rate of above 1000 seems insufficient now, since it only means a storm or burst of meteors in numbers and means that an eyewitness could have a chance to see a spectacular meteor show. Up to now, peoples have also recorded the meteoric flashes on the Moon during the Leonid meteor showers. Especially, the increasing activities of mankind in space for scientific, commercial and military purposes, have led to an increase in the problems concerning the safety of the satellites, space stations and astronauts. How the intense activity of a meteor storm is defined and forecast, some new points of view are needed. In this paper, several aspects about the intensity of the meteor storm are analyzed, including the number, mass, impulse, energy, electric charge, different purposes and different physical meanings. Finally, a synthetical index denoting the activity and potential threat of an intense meteor shower is suggested.

Meteor observations using the Davis mesosphere‐stratosphere‐troposphere radar

The Davis mesosphere‐stratosphere‐troposphere (MST) radar (69°S, 78°E) was installed in February 2003. Although the primary interest is the observation of polar mesosphere summer echoes, external transmit and receive antennas were installed to allow all‐sky interferometric meteor radar observations. This paper presents the first results from the meteor observations. The annual count rate variation shows good agreement with previous high‐latitude observations, peaking in midsummer and minimizing in early spring. The height distribution shows significant annual variation, with minimum (maximum) peak heights and maximum (minimum) widths observed in early spring (midsummer). Radiant mapping has been used to identify the Southern delta‐Aquarid Sagittariid and July Phoenicid meteor showers, and to investigate sources of sporadic meteors. Winds and temperatures derived from the meteor observations are also presented, showing good agreement with independent colocated measurements. There is some indication that the winds below the peak height of the meteor height distribution are smeared to lower heights, which may be indicative of a previously undocumented bias in meteor wind estimates.

The activity of the 2004 Geminid meteor shower from global visual observations

A comprehensive set of 612 h of visual meteor observations with a total of 29 077 Geminid meteors detected was analysed. The shower activity is measured in terms of the Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR). Two peaks are found at solar longitudes and with ZHR = 126 ± 4 and ZHR = 134 ± 4, respectively. The physical quantities of the Geminid meteoroid stream are the mass index and the spatial number density of particles. We find a mass index of s≈ 1.7 and two peaks of spatial number density 234 ± 36 and 220 ± 31 particles causing meteors of magnitude +6.5 and brighter in a volume of 109 km3, for the two corresponding ZHR maxima. There were 0.88 ± 0.08 and 0.98 ± 0.08 particles with masses of 1 g or more in the same volume during the two ZHR peaks. The second of the two maxima was populated by larger particles than the first one. We compare the activity and mass index profiles with recent Geminid stream modelling. The comparison may be useful to calibrate the numerical models.

MF radar observations of meteors and meteor‐derived winds at Syowa (69°S, 39°E), Antarctica: A comparison with simultaneous spaced antenna winds

The first results of long‐term meteor observations made with Syowa MF radar (69°S, 39°E), Antarctica, are presented. In winter, meteor wind measurements can be conducted throughout the day without being severely affected by group retardation or total reflection, while in summer the observations are confined within several hours around 0000 local time (LT). Daily meteor echo rates (roughly 300–1000) are clearly anticorrelated with local K indices, indicating that the observations mostly represent geomagnetically quiet conditions. Echoes are distributed from around 80 km to 120 km, with the peak altitude at around 100 km. The maximum height is set by the relatively slow sampling frequency employed (5 Hz) and is expected to be extended by using a higher frequency. Meteor and full correlation analysis (FCA) winds in winter months are compared. They agree well at around 90 km, while the FCA winds tend to underestimate the meteor winds at upper altitudes. A notable finding is that the directions of wind velocities can also be different. The FCA winds show less height variations above about 90 km and it appears as though the FCA heights are overestimated. A case study of angles of arrival estimated from MF echoes suggests a possibility that meteor echoes contaminate ionospheric echoes down to as low as 80 km. However, quantitative evaluation of meteor contamination effects, if any, on FCA wind velocities has not been done yet and remains a future topic to be studied. Other sources which cause the differences should also be sought. The remarkably wide height coverage of the present MF radar observations (from around 60 to nearly 120 km) using both FCA and meteor techniques simultaneously will greatly contribute to polar mesosphere and lower thermosphere study.

Modelling meteor ablation in the venusian atmosphere

A comparative study of meteor ablation in the atmospheres of the Earth and Venus is presented. The classical single body meteor ablation model is extended to incorporate a heat penetration depth estimate allowing the simulation of larger meteoroids, than would an isothermal model. The ablation of icy and rocky meteoroids, with densities of 1.0 and 3.4 g cm −3, respectively, and initial radii of up to ∼ 8 mm for rock and ∼ 13 mm for ice (equivalent to an initial mass of 10 −2 kg in both cases), was simulated in both atmospheres. In general venusian meteors are brighter than terrestrial equivalents. Large, slow, rocky objects may be up to 0.7 mag brighter on Venus, while small, icy particles with entry speeds in the range 30–60 km s −1, are found to be upwards of 2.7 mag brighter than at the Earth. Venusian meteors reach maximum brightness at greater altitudes than would similar particles at the Earth. Rocky meteoroids have their points of maximum brightness some 15–35 km higher up at Venus, between 90 and 120 km, whereas, for icy particles this altitude difference is about 5–25 km higher up than at the Earth, in the range 100–125 km. These findings agree, for the most part, with recent analytical studies. Venusian meteors, which last from 100 ms to ∼ 1.5 s , tend to be shorter-lived than terrestrial meteors, with correspondingly shorter visible trails. Large ( ∼ 10 −2 kg ), slow ( ∼ 10 km s −1 ) icy particles reach a maximum magnitude of ∼−2 at Venus and remain visible for about one second, with a large section of the smaller faster meteoroids simulated here remaining visible for several hundred milliseconds. In light of recent space-based meteor observations at the Earth [Jenniskens, P., Tedesco, E., Muthry, J., Laux, C.O., Price, S., 2002. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 37, 1071–1078], such brightness, height and duration estimates as suggested in this work, may be used in developing future observational campaigns to be carried out from Venus orbit.

A high‐latitude 8‐hour wave in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere

We used simultaneous multimission Fabry Perot interferometer neutral wind, airglow intensity, and temperature observations at Resolute (75°N) and meteor radar neutral wind observation at Esrange (68°N) to study a wave event with a period of close to 8 hours. On the basis of two days' worth of observations in October, we were able to show that during this event the 8‐hour wave only appeared at Resolute (75°N) and damped from 87‐ to 97‐km altitude with a vertical wavelength of ∼35 km. The OH emission temperature 8‐hour oscillation was leading that in the OH emission brightness, resulting a negative phase of Krassovsky ratio, which may be related to the damping of the wave. The 8‐hour wave also appears to be affected by planetary waves, resulting in a small phase shift for the wave from the first to the second day.

Adaptive filtering for the separation of incoherent scatter and meteor signals for Arecibo observation data

The Arecibo 430 MHz incoherent scatter radar (ISR) has been used to observe the ionosphere and meteors over 40 years. The meteor signals have traditionally been treated as the interference in ionosphere observation data, while more recently the incoherent scatter signals have been described as background noise in the meteor observation data. In this paper we present signal processing techniques that separate these two different signals into different geophysically interesting data sets. We investigate two techniques for two different data sets. For meteor observation data an adaptive filter is used to locate and separate meteor returns from the total data so that we improve meteor detection rate. For ionosphere observation data we use a filterbank followed by the short time Fourier transform (STFT) analysis to remove the meteor signals from the incoherent scatter results. By doing this the incoherent scatter data will not be contaminated and we can also analyze meteor characteristics from the separated signal.

An analytical function of the probabilities of perception and its application to the calculation of the population index in the visual observation of meteors

The probability of perception is an indispensable quantity in the visual observation of meteors. A new analytic function of the probabilities of perception is given, in which there is no uncertainty of the old fitting since any order of derivative of the function is also a single value and smooth. In virtue of the advantage that the function is convenient for the computation and analysis, several methods for calculating the population index r have also been compared with the aid of the analog calculation with a computer. It has been confirmed that the frequently used least square fitting method is not so good as thought. In addition, the best way to get a credible value of the population index is also deeply discussed.

Leonid Meteoroid Orbits Perturbed by Collisions with Interplanetary Dust

By analyzing high-accuracy Leonid orbits obtained from multiple-station meteor observations during the 1998 outburst and 1999 storm, we have detected the presence of meteoroids with peculiar orbits. These meteoroids are characterized by having a geocentric radiant nearly identical to the members of the storm that appeared with them but showing different orbital elements owing to their lower geocentric velocities. The changes in some orbital elements are significant and allow us to interpret the cause of such differences. Mainly, the semimajor axis and the eccentricity of these anomalous orbits are lower than expected for members of the dust trail or members coming from the background component linked to the annual stream. From these characteristics it is likely that these peculiar meteoroids suffered some perturbations on very short timescales. We have investigated several causes, including planetary perturbations, collisions, and radiative effects in order to explain the observed orbital changes. We conclude that these orbital changes can be explained by the loss of orbital energy close to the ecliptic plane. Such an effect can only be explained clearly by collisions of the original meteoroids with dust particles associated with the zodiacal dust cloud. We have applied this hypothesis in order to constrain some physical properties of 55P/Tempel-Tuttle cometary meteoroids.

The Spanish Fireball Network: Popularizing Interplanetary Matter

In order to increase in Spain the social interest in the study of interplanetary matter (asteroids, comets and meteoroids) we created the Spanish Photographic Meteor Network (SPMN) in 1997. This network has been dedicated to studying interplanetary matter with participation of researchers from three universities (Universitat Jaume I, Universitat de Barcelona and Universitat de Valencia), the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia and it is also supported by the Atmospheric Sounding Station at El Arenosillo (INTA-CEDEA) and by the Experimental Station La Mayora (EELM-CSIC). In order to promote the participation of amateurs, our homepage (www.spmn.uji.es) presents public information about our research explains how amateur astronomers can participate in our network. In this paper we give some examples of the social role of a Fireball Network in order to give a coherent explanation to bright fireball events. Moreover, we also discuss the role of this kind of research project as a promoter of amateur participation and contribution to science. In fact, meteor astronomy can become an excellent area to form young researchers because systematic observation of meteors using photographic, video and CCD techniques has become one of the rare fields in astronomy in which amateurs can work together with professionals to make important contributions. We present here some results of the campaigns realized from the formation of the network. Finally, in a new step of development of our network, the all-sky CCD automatic cameras will be continuously detecting meteors and fireballs from four stations located in the Andalusia and Valencian communities by the end of 2005. Additionally, during important meteor showers we plan to develop fireball spectroscopy using medium field lenses.

Meteoroid Bulk Density Determination Using Radar Head Echo Observations

We present the results of a study of meteoroid bulk densities determined from meteor head echoes observed by radar. Meteor observations were made using the Advanced Research Projects Agency Long-Range Tracking And Instrumentation Radar (ALTAIR). ALTAIR is particularly well suited to the detection of meteor head echoes, being capable of detecting upwards of 1000 meteor head echoes per hour. Data were collected for 19 beam pointings and are comprised of approximately 70 min. of VHF observations. During these observations the ALTAIR beam was directed largely at the north apex sporadic source. Densities are calculated using the classical physical theory of meteors. Meteoroid masses are determined by applying a full wave scattering theory to the observed radar cross-section. Observed meteoroids are predominantly in the 10−10 to 10−6 kg mass range. We find that the vast majority of meteoroid densities are consistent with low density, highly porous objects as would be expected from cometary sources. The median calculated bulk density was found to be 900 kg/m3. The orbital distribution of this population of meteoroids was found to be highly inclined.

Multi-Instrument Observations of Bright Meteors in the Czech Republic

We present detailed data on 8 bright meteors recorded simultaneously by different observational techniques. All meteors were recorded by all-sky cameras at the Czech stations of the European Fireball Network and by image intensified TV cameras placed at Ondrejov and Kunzak observatories. As well as direct photographic and LLLTV recordings, most of meteors were recorded also by the spectral TV camera and some also by photographic spectral cameras. For 6 cases, lightcurves from radiometers with very high time resolution (1200 s−1) are also available. From all these detections we found a significant difference between TV and photographic beginning heights. TV beginnings are in average about 40 km higher than the photographic ones. We found that meteor brightness is up to 2 magnitudes higher in the photographic system than in the TV system. This difference for high velocity meteors is mainly caused by the presence of strong Ca+ lines in the blue part of the spectrum, where the image intensifier is only marginally sensitive. At heights above 110 km, the Na line is usually brighter than the Mg line, while at lower heights both lines have comparable brightness. In one of two captured spectra of short duration luminous trains, a small initial brightening of the Mg and Na lines caused by recombination processes was observed.

Optical Observations of Meteors

Optical observations remain the most widely used method for studying meteors, even though they are limited by daylight and weather conditions. Visual observations have been used throughout history. They lack the precision of other methods, since they rely on the judgment of observers for trajectory information. However, since no special equipment is required, visual observations are widespread, and can give valuable information on the activity profile of showers. Photographic observations are much more precise. Rotating shutters allow velocities to be determined, and networks of cameras permit the height and trajectory of a meteor to be calculated. Except for the Super-Schmidt observations at Harvard, most photographic observations record only meteors brighter than 0 magnitude. Video observations, using image intensifiers, can record much fainter meteors down to +7 magnitude. Processing is becoming very automated, so that large quantities of data can be reduced relatively easily. Most video cameras have much lower precision than photographic cameras, but new technologies are changing this. Spectral observations of meteors, using video or photographic techniques, can be used to investigate the chemistry of meteoroids, while telescopic observations allow measurements to be extended to much fainter meteors (+10 or fainter).

THE METEOR FLUX: IT DEPENDS HOW YOU LOOK

In this paper, we use radar observations from a 50 MHz radar stationed near Salinas, Puerto Rico, to study the variability of specular as well as non-specular meteor trails in the E-region ionosphere. The observations were made from 18:00 to 08:00 h AST over various days in 1998 and 1999 during the Coqui II Campaign [Urbina et al., 2000, Geophys. Rev. Lett. 27, 2853–2856]. The radar system had two sub-arrays, both produced beams pointed to the north in the magnetic meridian plane, perpendicular to the magnetic field, at an elevation angle of approximately 41 degrees. The Coqui II radar is sensitive to at least two types of echoes from meteor trails: (1) Specular reflections from trails oriented perpendicular to the radar beam, and (2) scattering, or, non-specular reflections, from trails deposited with arbitrary orientations. We examine and compare the diurnal and seasonal variability of echoes from specular and non-specular returns observed with the Coqui II radar. We also compare these results with meteor head echo observations made with the Arecibo 430 MHz radar. We use common region observations of these three types of meteor echoes to show that the diurnal and seasonal variability of specular trails, nonspecular trails, and head echoes are not equivalent. The implications of these results on global meteor mass flux estimates obtained from specular meteor observations remains to be examined.

Complex of Meteoroid Orbits with Eccentricities Near 1 and Higher

In our work, the method that can help to predict the existence of distant objects in the Solar system is demonstrated. This method is connected with statistical properties of a heliocentric orbital complex of meteoroids with high eccentricities. Heliocentric meteoroid orbits with high eccentricities are escape routes for dust material from distant parental objects with near-circular orbits to Earth-crossing orbits. Ground-based meteor observations yield trajectory information from which we can derive their place of possible origin: comets, asteroids, and other objects (e.g. Kuiper Objects) in the Solar system or even interstellar space. Statistical distributions of radius vectors of nodes, and other parameters of orbits of meteoroids contain key information about position of greater bodies. We analyze meteor orbits with high eccentricities that were registered in 1975–1976 in Kharkiv (Ukraine). The orbital data of the Kharkiv electronic catalogue are received from observations of radiometeors with masses 10−6−10−3 g.

Atmospheric trajectories and light curves of shower meteors

Double station data on 496 meteors belonging to several meteor showers were obtained within the program of the video meteor observations during years 1998-2001. Analyzed meteors cover a range of photometric masses from 10 -7 to 10 -4 kg with a corresponding range of maximum brightness from +4.7 to -2.1 absolute magnitude. Atmospheric trajectories of Perseid, Orionid and Leonid meteors are analysed. These typical cometary high velocity meteors are compared to Geminid meteors with probable asteroidal origin and Taurid meteors - another cometary shower with significantly lower entry velocity. The light curses of the studied meteors vary widely, but generally are nearly symmetrical with the point of maximum brightness located close the to middle of the luminous trajectory. Small differences between showers are reported. We found that the height data are in good agreement with the dust-ball model predictions. The only difference is the beginning height behaviour. The beginning heights of cometary meteors increase with increasing photometric mass. These meteoroids probably contain a volatile part which starts to ablate before we are able to detect the meteors. The Geminid meteors are a different case. They start to ablate suddenly and their beginning height is almost constant in the whole range of studied meteoroid masses. In this case we observe real beginnings of meteor ablation.

Diurnal and seasonal variability of the meteoric flux at the South Pole measured with radars

A meteor radar system was installed at the South Pole in 2001 to measure the horizontal wind field in the MLT region. It uses four 6‐element yagi antennas pointing in orthogonal directions for transmission. For reception two independent systems are used: the same yagi antennas used for transmission (COBRA data acquisition system) and an interferometric array of five crossed‐dipole antennas (MEDAC data acquisition system). In this paper we present and discuss VHF radio meteor observations from the South Pole. Preliminary results showing the diurnal and seasonal variability of the meteor flux indicate that most of the activity occurs during the Antarctic summer around a very concentrated region of the sky in elevation and azimuth. These results agree well with meteor observations performed at Arctic latitudes. Speculations on the radiant distribution and possible meteor sources are presented.

Video observation of meteors at Yunnan Observatory

In the last 20 years, with the development of the CCD and image intensifiers, the use of small flexible video meteor observation systems has gradually increased, with the prospect that one day video observation will replace the visual observation and ordinary photographic observations. In this paper we report on the research and development of the No.1 meteor-comet video camera system of Yunnan Observatory and some preliminary observed results. The system consists of 5 changeable modules; it has a 36° large-field camera dedicated to the observation of meteors, with which a magnitude 6 star can be recorded on a single frame with an accuracy of about 0.2 mag. We also present a comparison of the video camera system with the traditional photographic system, and outline the merits, possible improvements and future development of the video system.

Radar and optical leonids

Abstract. We present joint optical-radar observations of meteors collected near the peak of the Leonid activity in 2002. We show four examples of joint detections with a large, phased array L-band radar and with intensified video cameras. The general characteristic of the radar-detected optical meteors is that they show the radar detection below the termination of the optical meteor. Therefore, at least some radar events associated with meteor activity are neither head echoes nor trail echoes, but probably indicate the formation of "charged clouds" after the visual meteor is extinguished.

Evaporation of high speed sporadic meteors

Abstract. Recent measurements conducted at the Arecibo Observatory report high-speed sporadic meteors having velocities near 50 km/s. The results seem to indicate a bimodal velocity distribution in the sporadic meteors (maxima at ~20 km/s and ~50 km/s). The particles have a maximum mass of ~1µg. This paper will present an analysis of the ablation of 1µg meteoroids having velocities of 20, 30, 50, and 70 km/s. The calculations show that there is fractionation even for the fast meteoroids, the effect being particularly noticeable for the 1µg sporadic particles, and less so for the heavier particles. The relevance of the calculations to the radar observations of the sporadic meteors will be discussed.