Luminous efficiency estimates of meteors -II. Application to Canadian Automated Meteor Observatory meteor events

Dilini Subasinghe; Margaret Campbell-Brown

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aaa3e0

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arXiv · 1801.06123

Luminous efficiency estimates of meteors -II. Application to Canadian Automated Meteor Observatory meteor events

Dilini Subasinghe·Margaret Campbell-Brown

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Abstract

Luminous efficiency is a necessary parameter for determining meteoroid mass from optical emission. Despite this importance, it is very poorly known, with previous results varying by up to two orders of magnitude for a given speed. We present the most recent study of luminous efficiency values determined with modern high-resolution instruments, by directly comparing dynamic and photometric meteoroid masses. Fifteen non-fragmenting meteoroids were used, with a further five clearly fragmenting events for comparison. Twelve of the fifteen non-fragmenting meteoroids had luminous efficiencies less than 1%, while the fragmenting meteoroids had upper limits of a few tens of percent. No clear trend with speed was seen, but there was a weak negative trend of luminous efficiency on meteoroid mass, implying that smaller meteoroids radiate more efficiently.

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Dilini Subasinghe, Margaret Campbell-Brown. 2018-01-18. Luminous efficiency estimates of meteors -II. Application to Canadian Automated Meteor Observatory meteor events. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881%2Faaa3e0

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