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(meteorobs) Meteoroid Size
Dr Lukic,
Thank you for taking the time to so thoroughly explain the relationship
between size, velocity, and apparent magnitudes of meteors.
As stated in the IMO's visual guide on page 18, the average diameter of
a zero magnitude meteor from the Eta Aquarid stream with a velocity of
66 kilometers per second is 2 centimeters with a mass of 1 gram.
Even for a faint magnitude +7 meteor from this shower the average
diameter is stated to be 1 millimeter which is much larger than a grain
of sand, even if that grain comes from California!
From studying that table it would seem that a meteoroid as small as a
grain of sand would not be capable of producing a meteor any brighter
than 10th magnitude and most likely would be somewhat fainter.
Bob Lunsford
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