Optical electronics for meteor observations

Spectral observations of meteors have been carried out for several years using an optical electronics facility. Interest has centered on faint meteors and their trails in the period of intensive meteor showers. Over 800 meteors were registered during the observation period, with spectrograms obtained for 170 of these. A total of 86 meteors were photographed from two sites and for 25 of these spectrograms of the meteors as well as their trails were obtained. All meteors have undergone routine processing in order to determine atmospheric characteristics. Results are discussed

On the meteor trail spectra

Meteor radiation appears as a result of collisions between meteoroid atoms and air molecules. Depending on duration, this radiation is usually divided into the following types: radiation of the meteor head; radiation of a coma surrounding or immediately following the meteor head; radiation of a trail formed as a result of fragments lagging behind or by the afterglow; and radiation of a meteor train forming from a tail as a result of various chemical and dynamical processes. To investigate physical processes caused by each of the above types, it is necessary to obtain the corresponding experimental data. The physical processes of the radiation and the measurement of the experimental data is discussed

Hard- and software problems of spaced meteor observations by optical electronics

An optical electronic facility is being used for meteor observations along with meteor radars and astronomical TV. The main parts of the facility are cameras using UM-92 optical electronic image tubes. The three cascade optical electronic image tube with magnetic focusing has a 40 mm cathode and resolution in the center of up to 30 pairs of lines/mm. The photocathode is of a multislit S-20 type. For meteor spectra observations, replica gratings of 200 and 300 lines/mm are used as the dispersive element

Mutual positions of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter from photometric observations during their mutual occultations and eclipses in 1997


We report the final results of the 1997 campaign of
photometric observations of the mutual phenomena of the Galilean
satellites carried out at observatories in Kazakhstan, Russia, and
Ukraine. Our results contribute substantially to the
world data bank of such observations
and will allow the model of the motion of Galilean 
satellites to be further refined. To facilitate the use of
photometric data, we reduced them by computing the planetocentric
rectangular
coordinate differences of satellite pairs for a number of instants
of time so we deduce the differences for one instant from one
observed light curve.
It is these reduced data that constitute the principal result of this work. We based our data reduction on the method which we developed in
earlier papers (Emel'yanov 1999; Emel'yanov 2000). The accuracy of observations was estimated in the process of reduction. The paper also describes the equipment used.

Mutual positions of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter from photometric observations during their mutual occultations and eclipses in 1997


We report the final results of the 1997 campaign of
photometric observations of the mutual phenomena of the Galilean
satellites carried out at observatories in Kazakhstan, Russia, and
Ukraine. Our results contribute substantially to the
world data bank of such observations
and will allow the model of the motion of Galilean 
satellites to be further refined. To facilitate the use of
photometric data, we reduced them by computing the planetocentric
rectangular
coordinate differences of satellite pairs for a number of instants
of time so we deduce the differences for one instant from one
observed light curve.
It is these reduced data that constitute the principal result of this work. We based our data reduction on the method which we developed in
earlier papers (Emel'yanov 1999; Emel'yanov 2000). The accuracy of observations was estimated in the process of reduction. The paper also describes the equipment used.