(meteorobs) Meteor colours

[Ed Majden]

on 3/27/05 8:39, YoungBob2 at aol.com at YoungBob2 at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 3/27/2005 10:57:37 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> epmajden at shaw.ca writes:
> 
> << overed in previous messages on this form.
> You can check the archives.  The only way to see what is contributing to the
> colour is to record a spectrum and see which elements are present.  >>
> 
> Hi, Ed:
> 
> Also a factor is the response of the detector - the eye and our
> vision system.  There has been some research that extremely
> intense light sources are seen as green, after the chemical
> reactions in the eye become saturated.  This might be why
> some very  bright fireballs are that beautiful, intense green and
> then turn reddish, as the intensity drops and the meteor "burns"
> out.
> 
> Bob Young
> 

Hi Bob:
    You present a very good point for the green colour of bright fireballs.
To be sure that the trailing green I mentioned is attributable to the
forbidden line of oxygen you should know its altitude by triangulation.  It
appears approximately 10 km higher than the main spectrum.  Mike Boschat and
a friend triangulated a Leonid and a paper is being written on this by Tatum
and others for the JRASC.
Ed