The excitation of ionic lines and molecular bands in meteor wakes

The appearance of multiplets arising from the 4²P state of CaII (the H and K lines and an infrared triplet), the 1st positive band of N₂ and possibly certain multiplets of FeII in meteor wake spectra is explained semi-quantitatively in terms of the two-step sequence: collisional ionization of major atmospheric species O₂ and N₂ followed by resonant charge exchange with ablated meteoric atoms. Many other features which could arise through this mechanism (multiplets of MgII, SiII and FeII, and bands of O₂ and N₂) are likely to be weak or to have escaped detection owing to observational selection.