Persistent Leonid meteor trails: Types I and II

Jack D. Drummond; Scott Milster; Brent W. Grime; David Barnaby; Chester S. Gardner; Alan Z. Liu; Xinzhao Chu; Michael C. Kelley; Craig Kruschwitz; Timothy J. Kane

Persistent Leonid meteor trails: Types I and II

Jack D. Drummond, Scott Milster, Brent W. Grime, David Barnaby, Chester S. Gardner, Alan Z. Liu, Xinzhao Chu, Michael C. Kelley, Craig Kruschwitz, Timothy J. Kane

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A campaign to study the trails left behind by bright Leonid meteors was conducted in November 1998 and 1999. These mysterious lingering trails have been observed for up to an hour. Such persistence allowed a visual observer at the Starfire Optical Range on Kirtland Air Force Base, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, to direct a sodium resonance laser, a CCD camera, and an intensifed video camera to the trail within two minutes of the meteor's appearance. Subsequent study of this data has identified two kinds of trails, Type I and II, although both may be found in a single trail. Type I trails appear turbid, wider (1 km), and optically thicker than Type II trails, and show very high diffusion rates of 800 m²s^-1. Type II trails are thin (100-200 m), smooth in appearance, and exhibit low diffusion rates of 25 m²s^-1. Type I trails also have higher line emission rates, and Type II trails often appear parallel. This latter phenomenon is still unexplained.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	215-219
Number of pages	5
Journal	European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP
Issue number	495
State	Published - Nov 2001
Event	Proceedings of the meteoroids 2001 Conference - Kiruna, Sweden Duration: Aug 6 2001 → Aug 10 2001

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Aerospace Engineering
Space and Planetary Science

Cite this

@article{5cf6546b62614a55ac14ace92c397e88,

title = "Persistent Leonid meteor trails: Types I and II",

abstract = "A campaign to study the trails left behind by bright Leonid meteors was conducted in November 1998 and 1999. These mysterious lingering trails have been observed for up to an hour. Such persistence allowed a visual observer at the Starfire Optical Range on Kirtland Air Force Base, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, to direct a sodium resonance laser, a CCD camera, and an intensifed video camera to the trail within two minutes of the meteor's appearance. Subsequent study of this data has identified two kinds of trails, Type I and II, although both may be found in a single trail. Type I trails appear turbid, wider (1 km), and optically thicker than Type II trails, and show very high diffusion rates of 800 m2s-1. Type II trails are thin (100-200 m), smooth in appearance, and exhibit low diffusion rates of 25 m2s-1. Type I trails also have higher line emission rates, and Type II trails often appear parallel. This latter phenomenon is still unexplained.",

author = "Drummond, {Jack D.} and Scott Milster and Grime, {Brent W.} and David Barnaby and Gardner, {Chester S.} and Liu, {Alan Z.} and Xinzhao Chu and Kelley, {Michael C.} and Craig Kruschwitz and Kane, {Timothy J.}",

year = "2001",

month = nov,

language = "English (US)",

pages = "215--219",

journal = "European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP",

issn = "0379-6566",

publisher = "European Space Agency",

number = "495",

note = "Proceedings of the meteoroids 2001 Conference ; Conference date: 06-08-2001 Through 10-08-2001",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Persistent Leonid meteor trails

T2 - Proceedings of the meteoroids 2001 Conference

AU - Drummond, Jack D.

AU - Milster, Scott

AU - Grime, Brent W.

AU - Barnaby, David

AU - Gardner, Chester S.

AU - Liu, Alan Z.

AU - Chu, Xinzhao

AU - Kelley, Michael C.

AU - Kruschwitz, Craig

AU - Kane, Timothy J.

PY - 2001/11

Y1 - 2001/11

N2 - A campaign to study the trails left behind by bright Leonid meteors was conducted in November 1998 and 1999. These mysterious lingering trails have been observed for up to an hour. Such persistence allowed a visual observer at the Starfire Optical Range on Kirtland Air Force Base, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, to direct a sodium resonance laser, a CCD camera, and an intensifed video camera to the trail within two minutes of the meteor's appearance. Subsequent study of this data has identified two kinds of trails, Type I and II, although both may be found in a single trail. Type I trails appear turbid, wider (1 km), and optically thicker than Type II trails, and show very high diffusion rates of 800 m2s-1. Type II trails are thin (100-200 m), smooth in appearance, and exhibit low diffusion rates of 25 m2s-1. Type I trails also have higher line emission rates, and Type II trails often appear parallel. This latter phenomenon is still unexplained.

AB - A campaign to study the trails left behind by bright Leonid meteors was conducted in November 1998 and 1999. These mysterious lingering trails have been observed for up to an hour. Such persistence allowed a visual observer at the Starfire Optical Range on Kirtland Air Force Base, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, to direct a sodium resonance laser, a CCD camera, and an intensifed video camera to the trail within two minutes of the meteor's appearance. Subsequent study of this data has identified two kinds of trails, Type I and II, although both may be found in a single trail. Type I trails appear turbid, wider (1 km), and optically thicker than Type II trails, and show very high diffusion rates of 800 m2s-1. Type II trails are thin (100-200 m), smooth in appearance, and exhibit low diffusion rates of 25 m2s-1. Type I trails also have higher line emission rates, and Type II trails often appear parallel. This latter phenomenon is still unexplained.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035521015&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0035521015&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Conference article

AN - SCOPUS:0035521015

SN - 0379-6566

SP - 215

EP - 219

JO - European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP

JF - European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP

IS - 495

Y2 - 6 August 2001 through 10 August 2001

ER -

Persistent Leonid meteor trails: Types I and II

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this