Evaporation of High Speed Sporadic Meteors

Abstract

Recent measurements conducted at the Arecibo Observatory report high-speed sporadic meteors having velocities near 50 km/s. The results seem to indicate a bimodal velocity distribution in the sporadic meteors (maxima at approximately 20 km/s and approximately 50 km/s). The particles have a maximum mass of approximately 1 microgram. This paper will present an analysis of the ablation of 1 microgram meteoroids having velocities of 20, 30, 50 and 70 km/s. The calculations show that there is fractionation even for the fast meteoroids, the effect being particularly noticeable for the 1 microgram sporadic particles, and less so for the heavier particles. The relevance of the calculations to the radar observations of the sporadic meteors will be discussed. (5 figures, 24 refs.)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA422999

Entities

People

  • C. Roth
  • Edmond Murad

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ablation
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Atmospheric Chemistry
  • Boiling Point
  • Chemical Kinetics
  • Chemistry
  • Evaporation
  • Heat Energy
  • Observation
  • Observatories
  • Physics
  • Planetary Sciences
  • Radar
  • Thermal Conductivity
  • Thermodynamic Properties
  • Vaporization

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Solar Physics
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.