Premium
Trails of OH emissions from small comets near Earth
Author(s) -
Frank L. A.,
Sigwarth J. B.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/97gl02413
Subject(s) - atmosphere (unit) , altitude (triangle) , spacecraft , astrobiology , earth (classical element) , shadow (psychology) , environmental science , polar , comet , atmospheric sciences , satellite , range (aeronautics) , physics , remote sensing , geology , astronomy , meteorology , materials science , psychology , geometry , mathematics , composite material , psychotherapist
The results are reported for a successful search for the OH emissions associated with an influx of small comets into Earth's upper atmosphere with a camera on board the Polar spacecraft. The spatial distributions of the OH emissions are characterized by a bright core of intensities at or less than the spatial resolution of the camera which is surrounded by a larger dim region of luminosities. The Earth's shadow is employed in order to obtain a coarse determination of the altitudes of these OH trails, i.e., an altitude range < 3000 km.