Atmospheric fragmentation of meteoriods
Abstract
The single body theory of meteoroid interaction with the atmosphere in the form of l = l(t), where l is the relative distance along the meteoroid trajectory and t the relative time, is generalized by allowing for points of sudden gross-fragmentation. This theory can be directly applied to photographic observations of meteors, comparing the measured distance, lobs, with the model computed distance, l, by means of the least-squares method. The single body model applied to theoretically computed data for a meteoroid with fragmentation points enabled insight into time dependence of residuals, their relation to position of fragmentation point and influence on the resulting ablation coefficient, initial velocity and mass. A computer program for automatic search of gross-fragmentation points was applied to 80 records of Prairie Network (PN) fireballs. We give a list of classified fireballs containing all PN fireballs, to which we applied our model. We discuss the precision of our results with special attention to the Lost City fireball.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- November 1993
- Bibcode:
- 1993A&A...279..615C
- Keywords:
-
- Ablation;
- Atmospheric Effects;
- Bolides;
- Fragmentation;
- Mathematical Models;
- Photographs;
- Trajectory Analysis;
- Dynamic Pressure;
- Least Squares Method;
- Meteor Trails;
- Precision;
- Standard Deviation;
- Time Dependence;
- Astrophysics