Image‐intensified video results from the 1998 Leonid shower: I. Atmospheric trajectories and physical structure

Abstract— Two‐station electro‐optical observations of the 1998 Leonid shower are presented. Precise heights and light curves were obtained for 79 Leonid meteors that ranged in brightness (at maximum luminosity) from +0.3 to +6.1 astronomical magnitude. The mean photometric mass of the data sample was 1.4 × 10^?6 kg. The dependence of astronomical magnitude at peak luminosity on photometric mass and zenith angle was consistent with earlier studies of faint sporadic meteors. For example, a Leonid meteoroid with a photometric mass of ～1.0 × 10‐⁷ kg corresponds to a peak meteor luminosity of about +4.5 astronomical magnitudes. The mean beginning height of the Leonid meteors in this sample was 112.6 km and the mean ending height was 95.3 km. The highest beginning height observed was 144.3 km. There is relatively little dependence of either the first or last heights on mass, which is indicative of meteoroids that have clustered into constituent grains prior to the onset of intensive grain ablation. The height distribution, combined with numerical modelling of the ablation of the meteoroids, suggests that silicate‐like materials are not the principal component of Leonid meteoroids and hints at the presence of a more volatile component. Light curves of many Leonid meteors were examined for evidence of the physical structure of the associated meteoroids: similar to the 1997 Leonid meteors, the narrow, nearly symmetric curves imply that the meteoroids are not solid objects. The light curves are consistent with a dustball structure.     

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).     

A survey of meteor spectra and orbits: evidence for three populations of Na-free meteoroids

We present a survey of 97 spectra of mainly sporadic meteors in the magnitude range +3 to −1, corresponding to meteoroid sizes 1-10 mm. For the majority of the meteors, heliocentric orbits are known as well. We classified the spectra according to relative intensities of the lines of Mg, Na, and Fe. Theoretical intensities of these lines for a chondritic composition of the meteoroid and a wide range of excitation and ionization conditions were computed. We found that only a minority of the meteoroids show chondritic composition. Three distinct populations of Na-free meteoroids, each comprising ∼10% of sporadic meteoroids in the studied size range, were identified. The first population are meteoroids on asteroidal orbits containing only Fe lines in their spectra and possibly related to iron-nickel meteorites. The second population are meteoroids on orbits with small perihelia (q?0.2 AU), where Na was lost by thermal desorption. The third population of Na-free meteoroids resides on Halley type cometary orbits. This material was possibly formed by irradiation of cometary surfaces by cosmic rays in the Oort cloud. The composition of meteoroids on Halley type orbits is diverse, probably reflecting internal inhomogeneity of comets. On average, cometary dust has lower than chondritic Fe/Mg ratio. Surprisingly, iron meteoroids prevail among millimeter-sized meteoroids on typical Apollo-asteroid orbits. We have also found varying content of Na in the members of the Geminid meteoroid stream, suggesting that Geminid meteoroids were not released from their parent body at the same time.     

Meteor velocities: A new look at an old problem

Meteoroids that orbit the Sun encounter the Earth with speeds between 11 and 74 km/sec. However, the distribution of the velocities of meteoroids between these limits is not well known. The uncertainty is caused by the difficulty in measuring the true flux of meteors at the extrema of the velocity distribution. Whilst the most comprehensive measurements of meteor flux are those obtained using radio techniques, meteors with speeds > 50 km/sec occur at heights where the effects of initial radius of the trail and diffusion significantly reduce the radio reflection from the trails; on the other hand the high dependence of the collisional ionization probability on velocity (to the power 3.5) significantly inhibits the detection of meteors with speeds < 20 km/sec. Recent developments in meteor radar systems are now making it possible to measure the velocity of meteors at the extrema of the distribution. For meteoroids ablating at heights between 100 and 120 km the speed of entry can be measured at 2 and 6 MHz using a radar with a 1 km diameter array located near Adelaide; these observations will commence early in 1995. In the meantime a 54 MHz MST radar is being operated at a pulse repetition frequency of 1024 Hz to search for the presence of interstellar (speed > 74 km/sec) meteors. Both these radars exploit the phase information available prior to the closest-approach (t_o) point.     

Searching for Light Curve Evidence of Meteoroid Structure and Fragmentation

We used light curve analysis to search for evidence of the dustball meteoroid model. Leonid, Taurid, Alpha Monocerotid and sporadic meteors from November 2003 were observed and analyzed using uniform methodology. Meteors from these four sources were examined for evidence of fragmentation by examining light curve shape and searching for light curve irregularities. Differences in meteoroid structure should be reflected by differences in meteor light curves. The resulting meteor light curve F-parameter values showed no statistically significant differences between the meteors from the various cometary showers or the sporadic meteors. The F-parameter values also suggest that the meteoroids from these sources do not follow a single body ablation model, which suggests that all four sources produce meteoroids with a dustball structure.     

A dynamical model of the sporadic meteoroid complex

Sporadic meteoroids are the most abundant yet least understood component of the Earth's meteoroid complex. This paper aims to build a physics-based model of this complex calibrated with five years of radar observations. The model of the sporadic meteoroid complex presented here includes the effects of the Sun and all eight planets, radiation forces and collisions. The model uses the observed meteor patrol radar strengths of the sporadic meteors to solve for the dust production rates of the populations of comets modeled, as well as the mass index. The model can explain some of the differences between the meteor velocity distributions seen by transverse versus radial scatter radars. The different ionization limits of the two techniques result in their looking at different populations with different velocity distributions. Radial scatter radars see primarily meteors from 55P/Tempel-Tuttle (or an orbitally similar lost comet), while transverse scatter radars are dominated by larger meteoroids from the Jupiter-family comets. In fact, our results suggest that the sporadic complex is better understood as originating from a small number of comets which transfer material to near-Earth space quite efficiently, rather than as a product of the cometary population as a whole. The model also sheds light on variations in the mass index reported by different radars, revealing it to be a result of their sampling different portions of the meteoroid population. In addition, we find that a mass index of s=2.34 as observed at Earth requires a shallower index (s=2.2) at the time of meteoroid production because of size-dependent processes in the evolution of meteoroids. The model also reveals the origin of the 55° radius ring seen centered on the Earth's apex (a result of high-inclination meteoroids undergoing Kozai oscillation) and the central condensations seen in the apex sources, as well as providing insight into the strength asymmetry of the helion and anti-helion sources.     

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.     

Double station and spectroscopic observations of the Quadrantid meteor shower and the implications for its parent body

Object 2003 EH₁ was recently identified as the parent body of the Quadrantid meteor shower. The origin of this body is still uncertain. We use data on 51 Quadrantid meteors obtained from double-station video observations as an insight on the parent body properties. A data analysis shows that the Quadrantids are similar to other meteor showers of cometary origin in some aspects, but in others to Geminid meteors. Quadrantid meteoroids have partially lost volatile component, but are not depleted to the same extent as Geminid meteoroids. In consideration of the orbital history of 2003 EH₁, these results lead us to the conclusion that the parent body is a dormant comet.     

The Velocity Distribution of Meteoroids at the Earth as Measured by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR)

The velocity distribution of meteoroids at the Earth is measured using a time-of-flight measurement technique applied to data collected by the CMOR radar (29.85 MHz). Comparison to earlier velocity measurements from the Harvard Radio Meteor Project suggests that HRMP suffered from biases which underestimated the number of fragmenting meteoroids. This bias results in a systematic underestimation of the numbers of higher velocity meteoroids. Other works (cf. Taylor and Elford, 1998) have also found additional biases in the HRMP which suggest the original HRMP meteoroid velocity analysis may have underestimated the fraction of high velocity meteors by factors up to 10⁴.     

Natural Variations in Comet-Aggregate Meteoroid Compositions

Bulk compositions of aggregate meteoroids made of the originally accreted dust with its highly varied in mineral content and chemistry and considerable grain size variations do not have a chondritic bulk composition. Deviations from CI element abundances reflect indigenous variations within and among comet nuclei. These unmodified meteoroids that are heterogeneous in all their properties are fundamentally different from meteoroids with a CI bulk composition that are fine-grained, equigranular materials and chemically and mineralogically homogeneous. Collection and data reduction bias exists but the compositions of individual fast meteors are entirely constrained by the measured main component meteor abundances.     

Spectroscopic Observations of the 2011 Draconids Meteor Shower

Some past October Draconid shower meteoroids fell apart in a spray of fragments at the end of their trajectory before slowing down, from which it was concluded that these were among the most fragile meteoroids known. In those instances, the dust could not be reliably traced to a particular return of the parent comet 21P/Giaconini-Zinner. On October 8th, 2011, Earth was predicted to transverse the 1900 A.D. dust ejecta of the comet. In 1900, the comet’s perihelion distance first moved significantly inwards to the Sun and ejection conditions could have been unusual. An airborne observing campaign was organized, with several teams contributing imaging and spectrographic cameras to study the manner in which these meteoroids released the volatile element sodium during the ablation process in the Earth’s atmosphere. IMCCE, ESA, and the SETI Institute contributed spectrographic cameras based on low-light WATEC 902H2 Ultimate, low-light LCC1, and GenII XX1332 image intensified cameras. An outburst was observed, much as predicted. Despite a lack of bright meteors, a total of 15 Draconid spectra were recorded. All show evidence of an early release of sodium. The loss of sodium was observed to coincide with the formation of a distinct wake of fragments. The observations show that 21P/Giacobini-Zinner ejected fragile meteoroids during the return in 1900. Those grains may have lost some sodium even before impacting Earth.     

First results from video spectroscopy of 1998 Leonid meteors

Abstract— We report spectroscopic observations of meteors made from the FISTA aircraft on 1998 November 17 as a part of the Leonid multi-instrument aircraft campaign. Low-resolution spectra of 119 meteors of apparent visual magnitudes from +3 to ?4, corresponding to meteoroid masses from 10^?6 to 10^?3 kg, were obtained. After analyzing a representative sample of the spectra and comparing them to the spectra of Perseid meteors from the Ondrejov archive, the following conclusions were reached: Leonid meteoroids are very loose and disintegrate easily in the atmosphere. This leads to much faster evaporation of volatile Na than of other elements, an effect which is not observed in the Perseid meteors. Relative bulk abundances of Mg, Fe, Ca, and Na in Leonid meteors are nearly CI-chondritic within the uncertainty of the method (factor of 3). Smaller meteoroids tend to be poorer in Na, which is true also for Perseid meteors. Most meteoric vapor emissions could be reasonably well explained with the temperature of 4500 K. High-temperature meteoric emissions (Ca⁺, Mg⁺) are present only in bright meteors. Leonid spectra are very rich in atmospheric emissions of O, N, and N₂, even at high altitudes and in faint meteors. These emissions are therefore not connected with the meteor shock wave. Thermal continuum is also present in the spectra. Organic material was not revealed.     

Shower Meteoroids: Constraints From Interplanetary Dust Particles And Leonid Meteors

The cometary Leonid meteoroids represent a size range in between largest carbon-richIDPs and the smallest CI meteorites. Their dustball structure and chemistry offer anopportunity to constrain hierarchical dust accretion inferred from petrologic studies ofaggregate and cluster IDPs. The Leonid shower meteoroids of known ``comet ejection'ages provide an opportunity to study space weathering of cometary dust over periodsof up to several hundred years. The meteors and aggregate and cluster IDPs displaycontinuous thermal modification of organics and volatile element (Na, K-bearing phases), that occur as discrete minerals and amorphous solids each different response during kinetically controlled ablation. Leonid meteoroids are not excessively Na-rich. The occurrences of Leonid meteors can now be accurate predicted and combined withknowledge better models for the settling rates, collections of surviving dust becomea comet nucleus-sampling mission. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The meteor radar response function: Theory and application to narrow beam MST radar

The meteor radar response function is an important tool for analyzing meteor backscatter observed by radar systems. We extend previous work on the development of the response function to include a non-uniform meteor ionization profile, provided by meteor ablation theory, in contrast to what has been assumed in the past. This has the advantage that the height distribution of meteors expected to be observed by a radar meteor system may be accurately modeled. Such modeling leads to meteor height distributions that have implications for the composition of those meteoroids ablating at high altitudes which may be observed by “non-traditional” meteor radars operating at MF/HF. The response function is then employed to investigate meteor backscatter observed by narrow beam MST radars which in recent years have been used increasingly to observe meteors.     

Frequency of hyperbolic and interstellar meteoroids

Hyperbolic meteor orbits from the catalog of 64,650 meteors observed by the multistation video meteor network located in Japan (SonotaCo 2009) have been investigated with the aim of determining the relation between the frequency of hyperbolic and interstellar meteors. The proportion of hyperbolic meteors in the data decreased significantly (from 11.58% to 3.28%) after a selection of quality orbits, which shows its dependence on the quality of observations. Initially, the hyperbolic orbits were searched for meteors unbound due to planetary perturbation. It was determined that 22 meteors from the 7489 hyperbolic orbits in the catalog (and 2 from the selection of the orbits with the highest quality) had had a close encounter with a planet, none of which, however, produced essential changes in their orbits. Similarly, the fraction of hyperbolic orbits in the data, which could be hyperbolic by reason of a meteor's interstellar origin, was determined to be at most 3.9 × 10^?2. From the statistical point of view, the vast majority of hyperbolic meteors in the database have definitely been caused by inaccuracy in the velocity determination. This fact does not necessarily assume great measurement errors, since, especially near the parabolic limit, a small error in the value of the heliocentric velocity of a meteor can create an artificial hyperbolic orbit that does not really exist. The results show that the remaining 96% of meteoroids with apparent hyperbolic orbits belong to the solar system meteoroid population. This is also supported by their high abundance (about 50%) among the meteor showers.     

Observations of interplanetary meteoroids with TIRA

The Tracking and Imaging RAdar (TIRA) at the Research Establishment for Applied Science (FGAN) was used in the L-band (1.33 GHz) to observe the Leonid shower in 1999. The radar beam was pointed directly into the radiant in the constellation Leo to receive “head echoes” from meteoroids when they ablate in the atmosphere at altitudes around 100 km. Two hundred and eighty-seven meteors were observed during 21 h in the early hours of November 17 and 18, 1999. The individual velocities, radiants and rough heliocentric orbits are calculated. Criteria are derived from optically observed Leonids which are then applied to decide whether an echo was created by a Leonid or a background meteoroid. However, in most cases the accuracy in the observational data is not good enough to allow for a clear distinction. Only for 100 meteors the velocity errors were less than 10 km/s. Out of those, 71 could be excluded on a 3σ level to be a Leonid (95 are excluded on a 1σ level). This confirms the theory that the Leonids have dominantly sizes of optical meteoroids with no significant extension in the lower mass range. Therefore, the risk of meteoroid impacts on spacecraft does not increase considerably during a Leonid storm. Background measurements 9 days after the Leonids maximum were taken in 2001 which corroborated the overall results obtained in 1999.     

A micrometeor component of the 1998 Leonid shower

Most astronomers expected a significant meteor shower associated with the Leonid meteoroid stream to appear in 1998 and 1999. An enhanced shower was widely observed in both years, and details can be found in many published articles. In 1998, one remarkable feature was the appearance of a strong component, rich in bright meteors, which appeared about 16 h before the expected maximum of the main shower, but another observed feature was an abnormal peak in the ionosphere characteristic value f _b E _s which was detected about 18 h after the main shower. A very high value of f _b E _s persisted for over an hour. The likely explanation is that the ionosphere was bombarded by an additional swarm of meteoroids, much smaller than those that produce a visible trail or an ionization trail that can be picked up by radio detectors. The different dynamical behaviours between small and large meteoroids are investigated and, in consequence, an explanation for the observed phenomena is offered and 1933 is suggested as being the likely ejection time.     

The beginning heights and light curves of high‐altitude meteors

Abstract— In this paper, we provide an overview of meteors with high beginning height. During the recent Leonid meteor storms, as well as within the regular double station video observations of other meteor showers, we recorded 164 meteors with a beginning height above 130 km. We found that beginning heights between 130 and 150 km are quite usual, especially for the Leonid meteor shower. Conversely, meteors with beginning heights above 160 km are very rare even among Leonids. From the meteor light curves, we are able to distinguish two different processes that govern radiation of the meteors at different altitudes. Light curves vary greatly above 130 km and exhibit sudden changes in meteor brightness. Sputtering from the meteoroid surface is the dominating process during this phase of the meteor luminous trajectory. Around 130 km, the process switches to ablation and the light curves become similar to the light curves of standard meteors. The sputtering model was successfully applied to explain the difference in the beginning heights of high‐altitude Leonid and Perseid meteors. We show also that this process in connection with high altitude fragmentation could explain the anomalously high beginning heights of several relatively faint meteors.     

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.     

Radar Backscatter from Underdense Meteors and Diffusion Rates

Many meteoroids burn up between about 120 km and 70 km, deposit metals and dust and form ionized trails which are detected by radars. Model studies about the influence of neutral or positively charged background dust on the ambipolar diffusion indicate that significant smaller decay times should be observed for weak meteor echoes compared to strong meteor echoes which can affect the estimation of temperatures. The variation of meteor decay times in dependence on echo strength, height, and season was studied using radar observations at 69° N, 22° S, and 67° S. Significantly reduced decay times were found for weak echoes below about 88 km at low latitudes throughout the year, and at high latitudes with the exception of summer. In summer at high latitudes, decreasing decay times of weak and strong meteors are observed at altitudes below about 85 km during the appearance of noctilucent clouds. The impact of reduced decay times on the estimation of neutral temperatures from decay times is discussed.