Methodology for determineng some physical parameters of meteoroids from the observation of their meteors, using a single camera

Abstract

For decades, the physical behavior of asteroidal and cometary material when it interacts with the Earth's atmosphere has been investigated. These objects have compositions that range from rocky to metallic, with a mix of both. The cometary material contains a rocky component and volatile ice. Objects entering the Earth's atmosphere do so at geocentric speeds between 11 and 70 km/s and at impact angles between 0° and 90°. These objects undergo a series of phenomena as they interact with the atmosphere, and if they reach the Earth's surface with sufficient kinetic energy, they can create impact craters. The phenomenon produced by the interaction with the atmosphere, the emission of light, is known as a meteor. In this research, a method is proposed to estimate certain physical parameters of meteoroids from observations of their meteors, based on video recordings taken by a sensitive infrared camera located in the K1 building of the Faculty of Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Honduras. Using a series of software (Stellarium, ImageDS9, UFOCapture, Fitswork4), the videos obtained were analyzed, and, based on these data and a set of transformations, their angular velocity and acceleration were estimated. Although this is a well-known process in the Meteor Networks installed in other parts of the world, the two objectives of this work were to evaluate how much we get to know about this phenomenon using a single camera and to understand what has been done to appropriate that knowledge to plan future work.