Excitation of silicon and calcium atoms in a meteor coma

A method for calculating the excitation temperature for silicon atoms in a meteor coma is presented. It is shown that, in the range of meteor velocities, the effective excitation cross sections of Si atoms are of the order of 10 to the -17th sq cm, while the excitation temperature at meteor heights ranges from 2400 to 3800 K. The proposed approach is also applied to Ca II atoms (3934 A).