Methods and statistics of TV observations of telescopic meteors

A review of TV and telescopic methods of meteor observations and of the problems of meteor astronomy addressed using these methods is presented. A meteor patrol developed at the Astronomical Observatory of Odessa National University and based on a Schmidt telescope and a TV detector is described. The meteor patrol allows meteor events to be recorded with a time resolution of 0.04 s. The investigated characteristics of the patrol are reported, and some aspects of the methods of observations and reduction employed are considered. The results of observations made during the period 2003–2004 are reported. A total of 368 meteors were recorded on 1093 individual frames during a total patrol time of 679 hours within a 36′ × 48′ field of view. The statistical data for meteor observations are reported, and classification of meteor images is presented. The specific features of some recorded meteor events are analyzed.     

Young Meteor Swarms Near the Sun: I. Statistical Correlation of Meteors with Families of Short-Perihelion Comets

We examine the hypothesis about the formation of meteor streams near the Sun. Families of short-perihelion orbit comets, many of which pass just a few radii from the solar surface at perihelion and have high dust production efficiencies, are assumed to be candidates for the parent bodies of these meteor streams. Our statistical analysis of orbital and kinematic parameters for short-perihelion meteoric particles recorded at the Earth and comets from the Kreutz family and the Marsden, Kracht, and Meyer groups led us to certain conclusions regarding the proposed hypothesis. We found a correlation between the ecliptic longitude of perihelion for comet and meteor orbits and the perihelion distance. This correlation may be suggestive of either a genetic connection between the objects of these two classes or the result of an as yet unknown mechanism that equally acts on short-perihelion comet and meteor orbits. A reliable conclusion about this genetic connection can be reached for the meteors that belong to the Arietids stream and the Marsden comet group.     

Techniques for positional measurements of telescopic meteor TV images

We present the results of our positional reduction of the observational material obtained using a meteor patrol based on a Schmidt telescope and a TV CCD detector. More that 1000 telescopic meteors were recorded in three years of meteor patrolling. Techniques for the cataloging and positional reduction of 3050 TV images with meteor trails are described. We have developed a technique for measuring the images of reference stars to determine the rectangular coordinates in the image frame. We discuss the achieved accuracy of determining the equatorial coordinates of reference and check stars by Turner’s method (of the order of a few arcseconds). We have developed software that allows the rectangular coordinates of meteor trajectory points to be determined after the meteor image reduction. These coordinates are used to determine the equatorial coordinates of the poles of the great circles of meteor trajectories (the angular length is not less than 15′ with an accuracy of at least 4′. We consider the possibility of using Stanyukovich’s method to determine the equatorial coordinates of radiants for non-basis meteor observations. The accuracy of determining the radiant coordinates has been estimated to be 4′–5′. Prospects for obtaining the kinematic characteristics of meteor particles are discussed.