中国古代火流星记录的统计分析

本文对中国古代火流星记录,按年统计,用功率谱这一数学方法对它们进行分析。结果发现声音是衡量火流星起源的一个重要参数。有声音的火流星具有170.6±0.0,102.4±0.0,66.1±2.2,27.3±0.4,23.3±0.0,17.9±0.4,14.8±0.1,12.4±0.1,10.5±0.3年的可能周期。有声火流星与陨石坠落周期基本相同,是与陨石同源的,来自小行星带。我们认为影响有声火流星和陨石下落的因素是太阳辐射引起的Yarkovsky效应和木星摄动。有声火流星的10.5±0.3,23.2±0.0,66.1±2.2年周期与Yarkovsky效应有关。12.4±0.1,17.9±0.4,102.4±0.0,170.6±0.0周期与木星摄动有关。至于14.8±0.1,27.3±0.4的周期,可能是木星摄动与Yarkovsky效应联合作用或其他原因所致。     

A Detailed Study on the Equal Arrival Time Surface Effect in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows

Due to the relativistic motion of gamma-ray burst remnant and its deceleration in the circumburst medium, the equal arrival time surfaces at any moment are not spherical, rather, they are distorted ellipsoids. This will leave some imprints in the afterglows. We study the effect of equal arrival time surfaces numerically for various circumstances, i.e., isotropic fireballs, collimated jets, density jumps and energy injection events. For each case, a direct comparison is made between including and not including the effect. For isotropic fireballs and jets viewed on axis, the effect slightly hardens the spectra and postpones the peak time of the afterglows, but does not change the shapes of the spectra and light curves significantly. In the cases of a density jump or an energy injection, the effect smears out the variations in the afterglows markedly.     

Which fireballs are meteorites? A study of the Prairie Network photographic meteor data

Plausible meteorite mass distributions imply that in the Prairie Network data there must be many fainter fireballs produced by meteorites with physical properties that, except for mass, are very similar to the recovered ordinary chondrite (H5) Lost City. Four criteria are proposed for identifying these other meteorites among the fireballs. These are: deceleration to final velocity ≤8 km/sec; a photometric mass/dynamic mass ratio within a factor of 2 of that of Lost City, agreement of the observed and theoretical single body end heights (calculated using dynamic mass), and a lightcurve no more irregular than those of the three recovered fireballs. These criteria can be related to the PE criterion of Ceplecha and McCrosky, but include a wider range of observational data, and also differ from the PE criterion in avoiding inclusion of data not helpful to the particular problem of identifying ordinary chondrite fireballs. By use of our criteria, 27 Prairie Network fireballs are identified as being meteorites comparable to or greater in strength and density to Lost City, most of these should be ordinary chondrites. The orbital element distributions of these objects span a wide range, include those of recovered fireballs, and show that the 4.0-AU aphelion of the Pribram meteorite is not unusually large. Perihelia are concentrated near 1.0 AU, in agreement with previous inferences from time-of-fall and radiant distributions, demonstrating the usefulness of these data based on visual observations.     

The Pribram,Lost City,Innisfree, and Neuschwanstein falls: An analysis of the atmospheric trajectories

To date, several meteorites have been found for which their flight in the atmosphere was recorded by special fireball camera networks. Because of this, a thorough analysis of the instrumentally registered falls is of current importance. For such fireballs, not only the high-quality photo images of the motion in the atmosphere exist, but also the density and the shape of the meteor body fragments reached the Earth’s surface are known for sure. In the present study, for the Innisfree, Lost City, and Pribram fireballs, new models of the entry to the atmosphere have been built. The values of the ballistic coefficient and the mass-loss parameter providing the best approximation for the observations of the luminous trajectory segment with the analytical solution of the meteor physics equations have been obtained. From recent results of the numerical experiments on the supersonic airflow of bodies of various shapes, the preatmospheric masses of the fireballs, as well as the dynamic estimates of the mass at the other trajectory points, were obtained. In particular, the terminal mass of the fireballs in the lower segment of the analyzed trajectories is in good agreement with the total mass of the meteorite material recovered in all of the cases considered. Moreover, to calculate the acceleration of the meteor bodies, a new analytical formula has been suggested, which allows the obtained theoretical time dependencies of the velocity and altitude to be compared with the observational data.     

Photographic Observations of the 1996 Leonid Fireballs in Japan

Several Leonid fireballs were successfully photographed by the Japanese Fireball Network and by other observers in Japan on 16 November, 1996. A totals of seven of these were simultaneously observed from two or more stations, from which the orbital and physical data were deduced. The radiant of these fireballs were very small, only 0.1°, similar to that of the 1991 Perseids. The 1996 Leonids showed a lower magnitude distribution index similar to those obtained in the 1961 and 1965 Leonids. All of these showers occurred before perihelion passage of the parent comet. We conclude that we have already encountered the elongated front part of the dust trail of the Leonid parent comet, where the trail is probably composed of larger dust particles. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Detailed data for 259 fireballs from the Canadian camera network and inferences concerning the influx of large meteoroids

Abstract— We present data for 259 meteoric fireballs observed with the Canadian camera network, including velocities, heights, orbits, luminosities along each trail, estimates of preatmospheric masses and surviving meteorites (if any) as well as membership in meteor showers. Some 213 of the events comprise an unbiased sample of the 754 fireballs observed in a total of 1.51 × 10¹⁰ km² h of clear-sky observations. The number of fireballs and the amount of clear sky in which they were recorded are given for each day of the year. We find at least 37% of the unbiased sample are members of some 15 recognized meteor showers. Preatmospheric masses, based on an assumed luminous efficiency of 0.04 for velocities >10 km s^?1, range from 1 g for some very fast fireballs up to hundreds of kilograms for the largest events. We present plots and equations for the flux, as a function of initial mass, for the entire group of fireballs and for some subgroups: meteorite-dropping objects; meteor shower members; groups that appear to be mainly of asteroidal or cometary origin; and for very fast objects. For masses of a few kilograms, asteroidal objects outnumber cometary ones. Cometary objects attain greater peak brightness than asteroidal ones of equal mass largely due to higher velocity, but also because they fragment more severely. For 66 fireballs, we estimate the meteoroid density using photometric and dynamic masses. Presumed cometary objects have typical densities near 1.0, while asteroidal values show two groups that suggest meteoroids similar to carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites. Our basic data may be used by others for further studies or to reexamine our results using assumptions different from those employed in this paper.     

伽玛射线暴:各向同性火球还是柱形喷流?

多数伽玛射线暴的光学余辉衰减较平缓且光变曲线未见明显拐折，通常认为它们产生于各向同性火球，GRBs970228,970508,971214,980329及980703等就是典型的例子，但柱型喷流模型其实也能对这类伽玛射线暴的余辉给出极好的拟合，因此它们完全有可能产生于柱形喷流，而并非一定是来自各向同性火球。     

Failed gamma-ray bursts and orphan afterglows

It is believed that orphan afterglow searches can help to measure the beaming angle in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Great expectations have been put on this method. We point out that the method is in fact not as simple as we originally expected. As a result of the baryon-rich environment that is common to almost all popular progenitor models, there should be many failed gamma-ray bursts, i.e. fireballs with Lorentz factor much less than  100–1000  , but still much larger than unity. In fact, the number of failed gamma-ray bursts may even be much larger than that of successful bursts. Owing to the existence of these failed gamma-ray bursts, there should be many orphan afterglows even if GRBs are due to isotropic fireballs, then the simple discovery of orphan afterglows never means that GRBs are collimated. Unfortunately, to distinguish between a failed-GRB orphan and a jetted but off-axis GRB orphan is not an easy task. The major problem is that the trigger time is unknown. Some possible solutions to the problem are suggested.     

Are gamma-ray bursts due to isotropic fireballs or cylindrical jets?

Afterglows from most gamma-ray bursts, such as GRBs 970228, 970508, 971214, 980329 and 980703, decay slowly and steadily. These bursts are widely believed to be due to isotropic fireballs. However, they in fact can also be well fitted by a cylindrical jet model. It is proposed that these bursts are probably generated by cylindrical jets, and not necessarily by isotropic fireballs.     

Evidence for the existence of groups of meteorite-producing asteroidal fragments

Abstract— The MORP camera network in western Canada observed 56 events which we associate with meteorites larger than 0.1 kg. An additional 33 Prairie Network (central USA) fireballs with published orbits were previously identified as the sources of meteorites of at least 0.25 kg. A comparison of the MORP orbits with each other and with the PN orbits, using the D′ criterion of orbital similarity, exhibits a surprising number of small values. This suggests there are groups of related objects among the 89 events. We evaluate the probability of small values of D′ arising by chance from a group of random orbits that has the distribution of orbital elements expected for meteorites. There is an excess of small values of D′ among the 89 meteoritic objects over the expectation for random orbits and a marked excess of very small values. Four groups comprising a total of 16 objects account for this excess. These groups exhibit a preference for the larger masses of the population and a very strong concentration of perihelia just slightly inside the Earth's orbit. Although it has been shown by others that gravitational perturbations will disperse Earth-crossing streams in times that are much less than cosmic-ray exposure ages, the properties of the four groups suggest they may be streams of fragments that crossed the Earth's orbit only recently. Such streams may include a considerable fraction of meteorites falling at a given time. Orbital evolution of these streams could alter the sample of meteorites arriving on Earth over time intervals that are less than the accumulation time of the Antarctic collections.     

Statistical analysis of Chinese historical records of fireballs

A power spectrum analysis is applied to the yearly statistics of Chinese historical records of fireballs. The results show that sound is an important indicator of origin. Noisy fireballs have the following possible periods in years: 170.6 ± 0.0, 102.4 ± 0.0, 66.1 ± 2.2, 27.3 ± 0.4, 23.3 ± 0.0, 17.9 ± 0.4, 14.8 ± 0.1, 12.4 ± 0.1, 10.5 ± 0.3. Noisy fireballs and meteorite falls have basically the same periods, and both originate in the asteroid belt. We think that the factors affecting both are the Yarkovsky effect and the perturbations by Jupitor. The 10.5-yr, 23.3-yr and 66.1-yr periods are related to the Yarkovsky effect and the 12.4-yr, 17.9-yr, 102.4-yr and 170.6-yr periods, to Jovian perturbations. The 14.8-yr and 27.3-yr periods may be due to the combined effect of the two, or to some other causes.     

Large Leonid Meteoroids And The Historical Activity Of Comet 55p/Tempel–Tuttle

We interpret the historical activity of comet 55P/Tempel–Tuttle in terms of the observed characteristics of present-day short period comets. In this respect, it is now realized that such comets are liable to undergo significant outburst and mantle loss events at intervals separated by of order a few hundred years. On this basis one might well expect comet 55P/Tempel–Tuttle to have undergone several outbursts since its earliest sighing in 1366. The limited absolute magnitude data available for 55P/Tempel–Tuttle is not inconsistent with the suggestion that the comet underwent outbursts during its 1699 and 1865 perihelion returns. If the outbursts of comet 55P/Tempel–Tuttle are interpreted in terms of mantle loss events then the bright, electrophonic sound producing fireballs reported during the great Leonid meteor storm of 1833 may have been due to the Earth sampling mantle material ejected during the outburst of 1699. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Possible associations of daytime fireballs and minor planets

Chinese and Japanese historical records of daytime fireballs, and world-wide daytime meteorite falls in the catalogue have been investigated. Among them, there are 253 and 104 records of great daytime fireballs in China and in Japan respectively, and 506 meteorite falls in the daytime are recorded in the Catalogue of Meteorites (1985).The same trends of seasonal and daily variations in the flux of daytime fireballs are clearly seen in both Chinese and Japanese records, and then the distributions of the daytime fireballs seem to suggest the association with meteorites and near-earth minor planets rather than with comets.Possible relations with minor planets, such as (1566) Icarus, (3671) Dionysius, (4450) Pan, (4486) Mithra and others are suggested.     

Photographic observations of fireballs in Tajikistan

Since 2006, systematic double-station photographic observations of fireballs using all-sky cameras equipped with Zeiss Distagon “fisheye” objectives (f/3.5, f = 30 mm) with a 180° field of view have been carried out at two observatories, Gissar (GisAO) and Sanglokh (IAOS), of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Tajik Academy of Sciences. In the method of astrometric reduction of fireball photographs, the empirical formulae for converting the measured coordinates to horizontal celestial coordinates are used. These formulae contain 12 unknown constants to be determined by the least-squares method and the iteration method. Such an approach enables the determination of the coordinates of an object at any point of the celestial hemisphere with a precision close to the theoretical limit whose value is quite comparable with the measurement errors. In the photometric reduction, the dependence of the measured width of the diurnal star trails on their magnitudes was used. As a result of astrometric and photometric reduction of the double-station photographs of five fireballs, the data on atmospheric trajectories, the coordinates of radiants, orbits in interplanetary space, light curves, and photometric masses of meteoroids which produced fireballs were obtained, and the belonging of fireballs to the known meteor showers was determined as well.     

Possible associations of daytime fireballs and minor planets

Chinese and Japanese historical records of daytime fireballs, and world-wide daytime meteorite falls in the catalogue have been investigated. Among them, there are 253 and 104 records of great daytime fireballs in China and in Japan respectively, and 506 meteorite falls in the daytime are recorded in the Catalogue of Meteorites (1985). The same trends of seasonal and daily variations in the flux of daytime fireballs are clearly seen in both Chinese and Japanese records, and then the distributions of the daytime fireballs seem to suggest the association with meteorites and near-earth minor planets rather than with comets. Possible relations with minor planets, such as (1566) Icarus, (3671) Dionysius, (4450) Pan, (4486) Mithra and others are suggested.     

Exceptional Fireball Activity of Orionids in 2006

We report exceptional fireball activity of the Orionid meteor shower in 2006. During four nights in October 2006 the autonomous fireball observatories of the Czech part of the European Fireball Network (EN) recorded 48 fireballs belonging to the Orionids. This is significantly more than the total number of Orionids recorded during about five decades long continuous operation of the EN. Based on precise multi-station photographic and radiometric data we present accurate atmospheric trajectories, heliocentric orbits, light curves and basic physical properties of 10 Orionid fireballs with atmospheric trajectories that were long enough and, with one exception, were observed from at least three stations. Seven were recorded in within a 2-h interval in the night of 20/21 October. Their basic parameters such as radiant positions and heliocentric orbits are very similar. This high fireball activity originated from a very compact geocentric radiant defined by α = 95.10° ± 0.10° and δ = 15.50° ± 0.06°. These fireballs most likely belonged to a distinct filament of larger meteoroids trapped in 1:5 resonance with Jupiter. From detailed light curves and basic fireball classification we found that these meteoroids appertain to the weakest component of interplanetary matter.     

Gamma-ray bursts: post-burst evolution of fireballs

The post-burst evolution of fireballs that produce γ-ray bursts (GRBs) is studied, assuming the expansion of fireballs to be adiabatic and relativistic. Numerical results as well as an approximate analytic solution for the evolution are presented. Owing to the adoption of a new relation between t R and γ, our results differ markedly from previous studies. Synchrotron radiation from the shocked interstellar medium is carefully calculated, using a conventional set of equations. The observed X-ray flux of GRB afterglows can be reproduced easily. Although the optical afterglows seem much more complicated, our results can still present a rather satisfactory agreement with observations. We also find that the expansion will no longer be highly relativistic about 4 d after the main GRB. We thus suggest that the marginally relativistic phase of the expansion should be investigated so as to check the afterglows observed a week or more later.     

Determining the Parameters of Fragmenting Meteoroids from Their Braking in the Atmosphere

The ballistic coefficients and ablation parameters of Prairie Network (United States) fireballs are determined by the best fitting in velocity–height variables. The braking trajectories based on the model of successive destruction with ablation are used as the test functions. The fitting accuracy of the observed trajectory was found to be approximately the same for the model of successive destruction and for the model of motion of a single body. At least, the fitting accuracy allows us neither to confirm nor to reject the fragmentation of meteoroids within the luminous segment of the trajectory. The previously noted excess of the observed luminosity of the fireballs studied here (Popova, 1997) over the value calculated for the dynamical mass, which was estimated from the model of a single body (Kulakov and Stulov, 1992), can be explained by deviations of the meteoroid shapes from a sphere.     

Analysis of a “flickering” Geminid fireball

Abstract— In the early morning hours of December 13, 2002, a bright Geminid fireball with an absolute magnitude of ?9.2 ± 0.5 was observed from Southern Saskatchewan, Canada. The fireball displayed distinct small‐scale oscillations in brightness, or flickering, indicative of the parent meteoroid being both non‐spherical and rotating. Using the light curve derived from a calibrated radiometer, we determine a photometric mass of 0.429 ± 0.15 kg for the meteoroid, and we estimate from its initial rotation rate of some 6 Hz that the meteoroid was ejected from the parent body (3200) Phaethon some 2500 ± 500 years ago. We find that 70% of Geminid fireballs brighter than magnitude ?3 display distinct flickering effects, a value that is in stark contrast to the 18% flickering rate exhibited by sporadic fireballs. The high coincidence of flickering and the deep atmospheric penetration of Geminid fireballs are suggestive of Geminid meteoroids having a highly resilient structure, a consequence, we suggest, of their having suffered a high degree of thermal processing. The possibility of Gemind material surviving atmospheric ablation and being sampled is briefly discussed, but the likelihood of collecting and identifying any such material is admittedly very small.     

Visual Observations Of The Leonid Meteors 1998 In Yunnan

The 1998 Leonid meteor shower was observed at the Gaomeigu station of Yunnan Observatory during five successive days in November. The visual records indicate that the number of meteors increased suddenly, from a ZHR of about 140 to over 400, in the early morning of November 17th, Beijing time. But it decreased slowly in the following two days. During the maximum there was a high proportion – about 10 percent – of very bright fireballs with enduring trains. The brightest one was about -10 magnitude with a smoke train fading about three minutes after. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.