Probing plasma physics and elemental composition of a leonid meteor by fitting complex plasma radiation model parameters

Abstract

ABSTRACT A numerical simulation model was developed and employed in elemental composition determination and characterization of meteor plasma physical parameters, particularly the plasma excitation temperature and electron density, by fitting the model parameters to the emission spectrum of a bright Leonid bolide recorded in the visible spectral range. Novel model introduced in this study involves self-absorption and enables parallel optimization of tens of the parameters. We also discuss that the observed bolide spectrum is strongly dependent on observation geometry.