Abstract
A long-lived (>32 min) persistent meteor train has been observed with a low light television camera which was sensitive only to radiation between wavelengths of 700 and 900 nm. The peak emission from the train was about 2 × 1017 photons s−1 m−1 and the meteor which produced the train had a magnitude corrected to the zenith of about −6. It is suggested here that this IR emission arises from the excitation of the atmospheric band of molecular oxygen (b1Σg→X3Σg) by the sodium catalytic process, a process which Baggaley1–3 has previously proposed to be responsible for the visible radiation from persistent meteor trains.
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Hapgood, M. IR observation of a persistent meteor train. Nature 286, 582–583 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286582a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/286582a0
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