Physical characteristics of space invasion

• Main Authors: B. E. Zhilyaev, A. P. Vidmachenko, A. F. Steklov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Aviation University 2020-12-01
• Series: Вісник Астрономічної школи
• Subjects: space invasions; astronomical observations; photometry; meteors
• Online Access: http://astro.nau.edu.ua/issues/2020_V.16_Iss.2/Zhilyaev_et_al.html

This paper presents an example of the application of theoretical developments on some issues of physics of space invasion. The effect of brightness oscillations and “wobbling” in the meteor trail, which we discovered, allows us to obtain estimates of some characteristics of the meteor by measuring the frequency of changes in the brightness in the trace (f_c) and meteoroid oscillations (f_m), if its velocity and altitude are known. Based on the proposed “tuning technique”, it is possible to determine the characteristics of the meteor at one-sided observations. To do this, we set the initial parameters for the model of meteoroid dynamics by the coincidence of the calculated and measured values of the frequencies f_c and f_m. Our simulation allows us to find the altitude at which the ratio of frequencies f_c/f_m coincides with the value found in the explosion of a meteoroid. Using this “tuning technique” and assuming the mineral composition for the meteor, we found estimates of the initial velocity of 21 km/s and the mass of 850 kg of the meteoroid, which reached a critical value of surface speed at an altitude of about 20.9 km in about 7.9 s with a residual mass of about 13.9 kg and a residual speed of about 10.9 km/s. At that moment, the meteoroid exploded.