Abstract.
In this study we numerically modelled the atmospheric ablation and luminosity of cometary structure meteoroids with geocentric velocities from 71 to 200 km/s. We considered meteoroid masses ranging from 10−13 to 10−6 kg. Expected heights of ablation and maximum luminosity absolute magnitudes are determined. Height and trail length values are used to calculate the angle traversed in a single video frame. It is found that for pre-atmospheric meteoroid masses of greater than 10−8 kg, high geocentric velocity meteors should be detectable with current electro-optical technology if properly optimised.
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Acknowledgements
This research has been made possible by support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant to RLH, and USRA awards to KAH and LAR).
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Appendix A
Appendix A
Thermal ablation equations and parameters
The differential equations describing the motion through the atmosphere of an isothermal, homogeneous, single body meteoroid experiencing thermal ablation in the free molecular flow regime are presented below. The thermal and physical meteoroid parameters found within the equations are defined in Table A1, and the values employed in the model are provided. More information on thermal ablation theory may be found in Öpik (1958), McKinley (1961), Hawkes and Jones (1975), Ceplecha et al. (1998) and Fisher et al. (2000).
The rate of change of the meteoroids height above the surface of the Earth, h, is related to the meteoroids velocity, v, by simple trigonometry.
The deceleration of the meteoroid can be obtained through conservation of linear momentum, where m is the meteoroid mass and ρa represents the atmospheric mass density.
The rate of change of temperature, T, of an isothermal meteoroid may be derived from conservation of energy.
We used the vapour pressure relationships given by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation to model the rate of meteoroid mass loss following Bronshten (1983) and Adolfsson et al., (1996).
The light intensity of the meteor, I, may be related to the rate of mass loss though the luminous efficiency factor, τ I .
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Rogers, L.A., Hill, K.A. & Hawkes, R.L. OPTICAL PREDICTIONS FOR HIGH GEOCENTRIC VELOCITY METEORS. Earth Moon Planet 95, 237–244 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-005-9015-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-005-9015-0