Abstract.
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.
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Acknowledgements
This research has been made possible by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We also acknowledge very helpful suggestions from the two referees for this paper.
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Faloon, A.J., Thaler, J.D. & Hawkes, a.L. Searching for Light Curve Evidence of Meteoroid Structure and Fragmentation. Earth Moon Planet 95, 289–295 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-005-9020-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-005-9020-3