Detection of 2009 Leonid,Perseid and Geminid Meteor Showers through its effects on Transmitted VLF Signals

The detection of 2009 Leonid, Perseid and Geminid meteor showers over Agartala, Tripura, India (Lat: 23.0° N, Long: 91.4° E) will be reported here by using two VLF receivers tuned to subionospheric transmitted VLF signals at the frequency 16.4 kHz from Aldra Island, Norway (Lat: 66.42° N, Long: 13.13° E) and the other at 18.2 kHz from Vijayananarayanam, India (Lat: 8.4° N; Long: 77.7° E). The received signals exhibited their peak values on November 17, 2009 when ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) was highest. Some typical variations which are observed in the records of amplitude during the 2009 Leonid, Perseid and Geminid meteor showers will be presented in this paper.     

Predictions for the Aurigid Outburst of 2007 September 1

The September 2007 encounter of Earth with the 1-revolution dust trail of comet C/1911 N1 (Kiess) is the most highly anticipated dust trail crossing of a known long period comet in the next 50 years. The encounter was modeled to predict the expected peak time, duration, and peak rate of the resulting outburst of Aurigid shower meteors. The Aurigids will radiate with a speed of 67 km/s from a radiant at R.A. = 92°, Decl. = +39° (J2000) in the constellation Auriga. The expected peak time is 11:36 ± 20 min UT, 2007 September 1, and the shower is expected to peak at Zenith Hourly Rate = 200/h during a 10-min interval, being above half this value during 25 min. The meteor outburst will be visible by the naked eye from locations in Mexico, the Western provinces of Canada, and the Western United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. A concerted observing campaign is being organized. Added in proof: first impression of the shower. Prepared as a contribution to the conference proceedings of “Meteoroids 2007”, to be published in the journal “Earth, Moon, and Planets”.     

Search for New Parent Bodies of Meteoroid Streams Among Comets. I. Showers of Comets 126P/1996 P1 and 161P/2004 V2 with Radiants on Southern Sky

We deal with theoretical meteoroid streams the parent bodies of which are two Halley-type comets in orbits situated at a relatively large distance from the orbit of Earth: 126P/1996 P1 and 161P/2004 V2. For two perihelion passages of each comet in the far past, we model the theoretical stream and follow its dynamical evolution until the present. We predict the characteristics of potential meteor showers according to the dynamical properties of theoretical particles currently approaching the orbit of the Earth. Our dynamical study reveals that the comet 161P/2004 V2 could have an associated Earth-observable meteor shower, although no significant number of theoretical particles are identified with real, photographic, video, or radar meteors. However, the mean radiant of the shower is predicted on the southern sky (its declination is about −23°) where a relatively low number of real meteors has been detected and, therefore, recorded in the databases used. The shower of 161P has a compact radiant area and a relatively large geocentric velocity of ∼53 km s⁻¹. A significant fraction of particles assumed to be released from comet 126P also cross the Earth’s orbit and, eventually, could be observed as meteors. However, their radiant area is largely dispersed (declination of radiants spans from about +60° to the south pole) and, therefore, mixed with the sporadic meteor background. An identification with real meteors is practically impossible.     

Observations of the 2001 Leonid meteor shower using VHF meteor radar

Every year the Earth crosses or passes near one of the dust trails left by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle in its pass through the Solar System every 33.2 years. This produces a meteor shower Commonly called the Leonid. The 2001 Leonid meteor shower is one of the strongest in recent years. We present observations made by the 50 MHz all-sky meteor radar located at the Platteville Atmospheric Observatory in Colorado (40° N, 105° W). The spatial and temporal distributions of the meteor activity detected by the radar during the 2001 Leonid shower differs from the observed sporadic activity detected by VHF radars. Estimation of the radiant flux of the meteor shower of the shower by a well-known methodology is presented, and the intensity of the phenomena is discussed.     

A Method for Determining the Coordinates of Meteor Shower Radiants from Meteor Radar Goniometric Data

We discuss a new method for measuring the coordinates of meteor shower radiants from meteor radar data. The method uses a high accuracy of radar goniometer measurements of one of the angular coordinates for meteor radiants and collective properties of incident meteor showers. It is based on a computer technology of searching for the coordinates of radiants using the intersections of meteor position lines on the celestial sphere and filtering nonrandom combinations of these intersections. The method allows the following: to detect meteor showers with a rate of more than 5 per day of observations and to separate meteor groups from different meteor showers with different radiants and velocities. The method makes it possible to increase the angular resolution from 10° × 10° achieved with a quasi-tomographic technique to 2° × 2°, with a prospect of a further increase in the accuracy through the individual reduction of separated meteor groups. We use the reduction of one-day-long observations during maximum activity of the Geminids meteor shower in 1993 to illustrate the potentialities of the method. We show an example of detecting a weak meteor shower that was active during December 1993.     

Radar Observations of Leonid Meteor Shower 2003

Observations carried out during Leonid meteor shower 2003, by using Indian MST radar (13.46^N, 79.18^E; dip 12.5^N) are used to determine the number density of meteoroids through the cross section of the meteor streams. Cross sections are calculated for a number of classes of echo duration (particle size). They are also used to determine the relative flux of the shower in particle size ranges producing radar meteor echoes having durations <0.4 s, 0.4–1 s and >1 s. Mean activity profiles along the Earth's passage through the stream show a systematic change of the peak activity and the width of the stream depending on the distribution of echo durations across the stream. The patterns of mass distribution index s are presented and discussed.     

Geminid Meteor shower activity 2003–2005 as observed by Gadanki radar

The distribution of meteor signals reflected from a backscatter radar is considered according to their duration. This duration time (T) is used to classify the meteor echoes and to calculate the mass index (S) of different meteoroids of shower plus sporadic background. Observational data on particle size distribution of the Geminid meteor shower are very scarce, particularly at low latitudes. In this paper the observational data from Gadanki radar (13.46°N, 79.18°E) have been used to determine the particle size distribution and the number density of meteoroids inside the stream of the Geminid meteor shower. The mean variation of meteor number density across the stream has been determined for three echo duration classes, T<0.4, T=0.4–1 and T>1 s. We are more interested in the appearance of echoes of various durations and therefore meteors of various masses in order to understand more on the filamentary structure of the stream. It is observed that the faint particle flux peaks earlier than the larger particles. We found a decreasing trend in the mass index values from the day of peak activity to the next observation days. The mass index profile was found to be U-shaped with a minimum value near the time of peak activity. The observed minimum s values are 1.64±0.05 and 1.65±0.04 in the years 2003 and 2005, respectively. The activity of the shower indicates the mass segregation of meteoroids inside the stream. Our results are best comparable with the “scissors” structure model of the meteoroid stream formation of Ryabova [2007. Mathematical modeling of the Geminid meteoroid stream. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 375, 1371–1380] by considering the asteroid 3200 Phaethon as an extinct comet.     

A research of the Orionid meteor shower by television observations in 2006–2008

The results of observations of the Orionid meteor shower are given in the period from 2006 to 2008. Observations were carried out using a highly sensitive camera FAVOR (FAst Variability Optical Registrator) a limiting magnitude of above +11.0^m (for stars) and a field of view of 18° × 20°. Over the period of the shower from October 2 to November 7, 2006–2008, there were 3713 meteors. 449 of these meteors were associated with the Orionid meteor shower. The distributions of Orionid meteors by the stellar magnitude is presented. It turned out that most of meteors (65%) of this shower have a brightness of +5.0^m-+7.0^m. On each night of observation the index of meteor activity was calculated for Orionids.     

NEOCAM: The Near Earth Object Chemical Analysis Mission

The prime measurement objective of the Near Earth Object Chemical Analysis Mission (NEOCAM) is to obtain the ultraviolet spectra of meteors entering the terrestrial atmosphere from ∼125 to 300 nm in meteor showers. All of the spectra will be collected using a slitless ultraviolet spectrometer in Earth orbit. Analysis of these spectra will reveal the degree of chemical diversity in the meteors, as observed in a single meteor shower. Such meteors are traceable to a specific parent body and we know exactly when the meteoroids in a particular shower were released from that parent body (Asher, in: Arlt (ed.) Proc. International Meteor Conference, 2000; Lyytinen and van Flandern, Earth Moon Planets 82–83:149–166, 2000). By observing multiple apparitions of meteor showers we can therefore obtain quasi-stratigraphic information on an individual comet or asteroid. We might also be able to measure systematic effects of chemical weathering in meteoroids from specific parent bodies by looking for correlations in the depletions of the more volatile elements as a function of space exposure (Borovička et al., Icarus 174:15–30, 2005). By observing the relation between meteor entry characteristics (such as the rate of deceleration or breakup) and chemistry we can determine if our meteorite collection is deficient in the most volatile-rich samples. Finally, we can obtain a direct measurement of metal deposition into the terrestrial stratosphere that may act to catalyze atmospheric chemical reactions.     

High-Frequency Evolving Emission Lines for the 25 August 1999 Solar Flare

We analyze a special kind of temporal fine structure in microwave radio emission for the 25 August 1999 solar flare observed by the PMO spectrometer over the range of 4.5 – 7.5 GHz. This flare displays continuum emission after a group of reverse-slope type III bursts around 6 GHz. High-resolution dynamic spectra reveal three evolving emission lines (EELs) following the type III group. They are characterized by isolated, narrow, and continuous emission strips, which display frequency fluctuations with time. Their frequency-drift rates are between −2 and 3 GHz s⁻¹. Distinct from the EELs at lower frequencies, three EELs have a very short duration of a few seconds. They show an average bandwidth of Δf≈330 MHz and a relative bandwidth of Δf/f≈0.057. This is the first time that this kind of fine structure has been observed around 6 GHz.     

A southern hemisphere survey of meteor shower radiants and associated stream orbits using single station radar observations

The 33.2 MHz interferometric meteor radars located at Davis Station, Antarctica and Darwin, Australia typically detect around 15 000 specular underdense meteor echoes every day. While the angle of arrival of the scattered radio wave can be inferred using phase differences between receive antennae, the direction of individual meteors is not known beyond a plane of ambiguity perpendicular to the angle of arrival. Using the great circle mapping technique with a Jones & Jones type weighting function, 37 meteor shower systems were detected in data collected at both locations over 2006–2007, including nine undocumented showers. The orbital elements of the parent debris streams were then calculated for the 31 showers where sufficiently precise measurements were available.     

A new asteroid-associated meteor shower and notes on comet-asteroid connection

The calculation of the orbit of the potentially hazardous Asteroid 2001 YB₅ suggests a possible meteor shower around January 7.5, 2002 UT. Video observations revealed an unidentified radiant around the predicted maximum time, at RA=121.5°, Dec=+11.5°(for solar longitude 287.30°). Visual observers also reported unusually high rates from that region on the same night, indicating that 2001 YB₅ did produce a weak meteor shower. Furthermore, it is noticed that 2001 YB₅ is a rare B-type asteroid in same spectral class with Asteroid (3200) Phaethon, the parent body of the only previously known asteroid-associate meteor shower, Geminids.     

Comet Tempel-Tuttle and the Leonid meteors

The distribution of dust surrounding periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle has been mapped by analyzing the associated Leonid meteor shower data over the 902–1969 interval. The majority of dust ejected from the parent comet evolves to a position lagging the comet and outside the comet's orbit. The outgassing and dust ejection required to explain the parent comet's deviation from pure gravitational motion would preferentially place dust in a position leading the comet and inside the comet's orbit. Hence it appears that radiation pressure and planetary perturbations, rather than ejection processes, control the dynamic evolution of the Leonid particles. Significant Leonid meteor showers are possible roughly 2500 days before or after the parent comet reaches perihelion but only if the comet passes closer than 0.025 AU inside or 0.010 AU outside the Earth's orbit. Although the conditions in 1998–1999 are optimum for a significant Leonid meteor shower, the event is not certain because the dust particle distribution near the comet is far from uniform. As a by-product of this study, the orbit of comet Tempel-Tuttle has been redetermined for the 1366–1966 observed interval.     

Lightcurves of 1999 Leonid Impact Flashes on the Moon

Optical flashes observed on the night side of the Moon during the 1999 Leonid meteor shower have attracted the interest of astronomers. These flashes are attributed to high-velocity impacts of Leonid meteoroids on the lunar surface. Here, we report five lunar flashes detected over a 5.8-h observation period centered at 11:25 UT on Nov. 18, 1999, in Japan. The flashes are characterized by an abrupt brightening. Three flashes exhibited afterglows that remained visible for at least 50 ms, which is longer than the duration predicted for radiation from an impact-generated plasma cloud. We show that thermal radiation from hot droplets ejected from the lunar surface during high-velocity impacts could be the cause of the afterglows.     

Leonid meteor spectrum from 110 to 860 nm

During the Leonid meteor shower on 18 November 1999, the five spectrographic imagers onboard the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite recorded the first complete meteor spectra from 110 to 860 nm. The observation occurred at 00:23:36.2 UT, at which time the satellite was pointed at a tangent altitude of 100 km over 37.2°N and 78.2°E. The spectrograph slits were oriented approximately parallel to the horizon at a tangent altitude of 100 km, and the meteor passed approximately perpendicular through the slits’ fields of view. All five spectrographic imagers observed the passage of a bright object (m_v < −2.8 at 100 km) and each recorded several frames of data. In the visible, common meteor emissions were observed from iron, sodium, and oxygen. However, the ultraviolet spectrum displayed a wealth of more intense features, some of which actually caused saturation in the spectrographs. The most intense features appeared between 220 and 300 nm and are attributed to neutral and singly ionized iron and ionized magnesium. Some unknown emissions, possibly from an unidentified molecular species such as iron oxide, appear between 180 and 220 nm. In the far ultraviolet from 110 to 130 nm, oxygen and nitrogen features appear in the spectrum, with some features from ionized iron and magnesium. In particular, the FUV spectrum showed an intense emission from hydrogen Lyman alpha and a much weaker emission from what appeared to be neutral carbon. The atmospheric emissions can be associated with the heating within the meteor shock, while the metallic emissions originate from the fireball of the meteor proper. The ultraviolet emissions were much stronger than those in the visible and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. The energy of emissions in the ultraviolet (110 < λ < 337 nm) exceeded the energy of the visible (337 < λ < 650 nm) by a factor of at least 5.     

Perseid meteor stream as observed in 1993

Presented are results of Perseid 1993 meteor shower from radar observation at Ondejov observatory. Investigation of the shower activity profiles in four echo duration intervals proved the position of dominant peak at solar longitude L = 138.°8±0.°05 (epoch 1950.0) followed by series of secondary maxima positions of which depend on examined echo duration class. Extremely low value of the mass distribution indexs = 1.27 ± 0.01 near the maximum activity peak associated with high proportion of fragmenting particles leads to the suggestion that meteor particles concentrated in this filament are younger than those which form the other parts of the stream.     

First definitive observations of meteor shower particles using a high-power large-aperture radar

We present the first clear observations of meteor shower activity from meteor-head echoes detected by a high-power large-aperture radar (HPLAR). Such observations have been performed at the Jicamarca VHF radar using its interferometric capabilities allowing the discrimination of meteor shower echoes from the much more frequent sporadic meteors. Until now, HPLARs were unable to distinguish meteor shower from the much more common sporadic meteor ones. In this work we have been able to detect and characterize the η-Aquariids (ETA) as well as the Perseids (PER) showers. The shower activity is more conspicuous for the ETA than for the PER shower due to the more favorable geometry. Namely, PER meteors come from low elevation angles, experiencing more filtering due to the combined Earth-atmosphere-radar instrument. In both cases, there is an excellent agreement between the measured mean velocity of the shower echoes and their expected velocity, within a fraction of 1 km s⁻¹. Besides the good agreement with expected visual results, HPLARs observe meteors with a variety of particles sizes and masses, not observed by any other technique. Taking into account the different viewing volumes, compare to optical observations Jicamarca observes more than 1000 times more ETA meteors. Our results indicate that Jicamarca and other HPLARs are able to detect the echoes from meteor showers, but without interferometric capabilities such populations are difficult to identify just from their velocity distributions, particularly if their velocity distributions are expected to be similar to the more dominant distributions of sporadic meteors.     

Prospects for meteor shower activity in the venusian atmosphere

We investigate the possibility of detectable meteor shower activity in the atmosphere of Venus. We compare the Venus-approaching population of known periodic comets, suspected cometary asteroids and meteor streams with that of the Earth. We find that a similar number of Halley-type comets but a substantially lesser population of Jupiter family comets approach Venus. Parent bodies of prominent meteor showers that might occur at Venus have been determined based on minimum orbital distance. These are: Comets 1P/Halley, parent of the η Aquarid and Orionid streams at the Earth; 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova which currently approaches the venusian orbit to 0.0016 AU; three Halley-type comets (12P/Pons-Brooks, 27P/Crommelin and 122P/de Vico), all intercepting the planet's orbit within a 5-day arc in solar longitude; and Asteroid (3200) Phaethon, parent of the December Geminids at the Earth. In addition, several minor streams and a number of cometary asteroid orbits are found to approach the orbit of Venus sufficiently close to raise the possibility of some activity at that planet. Using an analytical approach described in Adolfsson et al. (Icarus 119 (1996) 144) we show that venusian meteors would be as bright or up to 2 magnitudes brighter than their Earth counterparts and reach maximum luminosity at an altitude range of 100-120, 20-30 km higher than at the Earth, in a predominantly clear region of the atmosphere. We discuss the feasibility of observing venusian showers based on current capabilities and conclude that a downward-looking Venus-orbiting meteor detector would be more suitable for these purposes than Earth-based monitoring. The former would detect a shower of an equivalent Zenithal Hourly Rate of at least several tens of meteors.     

On activity periods of the April Lyrids

The activity of the Lyrid meteor shower is analyzed by visual observations in the interval 1900–2007. Processing of observations over a long time interval confirmed the presence of two periods of activity of the shower, of 12 and 60 years. These periods almost coincide with the period and five times Jupiter’s orbital period, i.e., 11.8 and 59.3 years, respectively, suggesting the possible influence of Jupiter on the shower structure. High activity of the shower is observed when the epoch of observations and the commensurate moment coincide with the orbital period of Jupiter and can be registered in the next 1–2 years. The increased activity of Lyrid by visual observations suggests that ZHR exceeds 30 meteors per hour. The modeling of activity profiles of showers for different minimum masses of meteoroids has shown that there is a correlation between the longitude of the node from the orbit with the mass of particles.     

Studies on the Effects of 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower on Subionospheric Transmitted VLF Signals and Vertical Electric Potential Gradient

The effects of 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower upon the two VLF subionospheric transmitted signals and vertical electric potential gradient from the ground surface have been studied from Kolkata (Lat: 22.56°N, Long: 88.5°E) on November 17, 2009. The received signals showed their peak values when ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) was highest. Some typical variations in the outcome of these measurements during the meteor showers will be presented in this paper.