Re: [find_orb] Meteor/fireball orbit determination

Bill J Gray Oct 26 6:15 AM

Hi Tim,

"...Maybe a stupid question, Would Find orb be
able to give an orbit for a bright meteor/fireball?"

I think so, yes.

Be advised that this is more a matter of inference than
actual testing. There has been some interest expressed in
getting video astrometry for meteors and determining orbits
from the result. But nobody has actually sent me such
astrometry, nor have I heard from someone who tried feeding
Find_Orb meteor astrometry.

But it _has_ been tested on low-earth satellites. Admittedly,
LEO satellites are usually moving much slower than meteors.
The other factor that I think may prove important is that
Find_Orb doesn't have an atmospheric drag model. I swapped
some e-mails with a gent interested in meteor astrometry who
gave some suggestions on this point.

Given some actual data, I'd just plug it into Find_Orb and
see what happened. We would probably get a decent result without
needing to include drag. Including it would get a better result,
and also give us a mass/area ratio for the meteor.

-- Bill