Luminous efficiency based on FRIPON meteorsOPEN ACCESS
Esther Drolshagen, Theresa Ott, Detlef Koschny, Gerhard Drolshagen, Jeremie Vaubaillon, Francois Colas, Josep Maria Trigo-Rodriguez, Brigitte Zanda, Sylvain Bouley, Simon Jeanne, Adrien Malgoyre, Mirel Birlan, Pierre Vernazza, Daniele Gardiol, Dan Alin Nedelcu, Jim Rowe, Mathieu Forcier, Eloy Peña Asensio, Herve Lamy, Ludovic Ferrière, Dario Barghini, Albino Carbognani, Mario Di Martino, Stefania Rasetti, Giovanni Battista Valsecchi, Cosimo Antonio Volpicelli, Matteo Di Carlo, Cristina Knapic, Giovanni Pratesi, Walter Riva, Giovanna M. Stirpe, Sonia Zorba, Olivier Hernandez, Emmanuel Jehin, Marc Jobin, Ashley King, Agustin Sanchez-Lavega, Andrea Toni, Björn Poppe
“In meteor physics the luminous efficiency τ is used to convert the meteor’s magnitude to the corresponding meteoroid’s mass. However, lack of sufficiently accurate verification methods or adequate laboratory tests leave this parameter to be controversially discussed. In this work meteor/fireball data obtained by the Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation Network (FRIPON) was used to calculate the masses of the pre-atmospheric meteoroids which could in turn be compared to the meteor brightnesses to assess their luminous efficiencies. For that, deceleration-based formulas for the mass computation were used. We have found τ-values, as well as the shape change coefficients, of 294 fireballs with determined masses in the range of 10−6 kg – 100 kg. The derived τ-values have a median of τmedian = 2.17 %. Most of them are on the order of 0.1 % – 10 %. We present how our values were obtained, compare them with data reported in the literature, and discuss several methods. A dependence of τ on the pre-atmospheric velocity of the meteor, ve, is noticeable with a relation of τ=0.0023⋅v2.3e. The higher luminous efficiency of fast meteors could be explained by the higher energy released. Fast meteoroids produce additional emission lines that radiate more efficiently in specific wavelengths due to the appearance of the so-called second component of higher temperature. Furthermore, a dependence of τ on the initial meteoroid mass, Me, was found, with negative linear behaviour in log-log space: τ=0.48⋅M−0.47e. This implies that the radiation of smaller meteoroids is more efficient. “
