Combined photographic and radio echo observations of meteors

Abstract

An experiment designed for the simultaneous photographic and radio echo observations of meteors is described. The observations are made by means of a meniscus Schmidt camera and two pulsed radio transmitters operating at frequencies near 36 Mc/s. An analysis is given of the radio echo and photographic measurements of a bright Geminid meteor. The radio echo duration is found to be several orders of magnitude less than would be expected on simple diffusion theory. This behaviour is explained in terms of the attachment of electrons to neutral oxygen molecules to form negative ions, and a value for the attachment coefficient is determined.