Open AccessThe initial train radius of sporadic meteors
Author(s) -
Jones J.,
CampbellBrown M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.08972.x
Subject(s) - meteoroid , meteor (satellite) , physics , radius , attenuation , radar , radar systems , solar radius , astrophysics , flux (metallurgy) , geodesy , astronomy , optics , geology , plasma , aerospace engineering , coronal mass ejection , computer security , computer science , engineering , materials science , quantum mechanics , solar wind , metallurgy
The height distributions, velocity distributions and flux measurements of underdense echoes determined from meteor radar observations are significantly affected by the attenuation associated with the initial radius of meteor trains. Dual‐frequency radar observations of a very large set of sporadic radar meteors at 29 and 38 MHz yield estimates of the initial train radius and its dependence on height and meteoroid speed as determined by the time‐delay method. We provide empirical formulae that can be used to correct meteoroid fluxes for the effect of initial train radius at other radio frequencies.