[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Meteor Velocity from Single Station Photos
Ed M wrote:
>> I know that crude heights can be arrived at, if the meteor can be
>> identified with a particular shower radiant with the velocity known. I
>> haven't seen the calculations on how to do this, however.
For the automated meteor detection and shower association software that I
wrote, one of the discriminators I used for proper shower association was to
use an estimate of the meteor's velocity based on a shower's average height
at max brightness, angular velocity of the meteor estimated by the software,
meteor elevation from the horizon and distance from the radiant. This
estimate is compared to the known shower speed and helps to reduce false
radiant associations in the automated counting. The equations can be
manipulated to solve for another parameter such as height given assumptions
and/or measurements on the other inputs.
I am hoping to get an article written for WGN in the very near future that
rederives the expressions for doing this as originally given in one of the
IMO handbooks. I have rederived the expression more accurately to avoid
error that arises for low altitude meteors (<20 degrees elevation). This
caused me all sorts of grief when the association decriminators were first
being tested out on real taped meteors. Perhaps Rob McN. would want to
coordinate publishing his expressions in the same issue?
Pete Gural
pgural@cpmx.saic.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html