Experimentally derived luminous efficiencies for aluminum and iron at
meteoric speeds
Abstract
Calculating meteoroid masses from photometric observations relies on
prior knowledge of the luminous efficiency, a parameter that is not well
characterized; reported values vary by several orders of magnitude. We
present results from an experimental campaign to determine the luminous
efficiency as a function of mass, velocity, and composition. Using a
linear electrostatic dust accelerator, iron and aluminum microparticles
were accelerated to 10+ km/s and ablated, and the light production
measured. The luminous efficiency of each event was calculated and
functional forms fit for each species. For both materials, the luminous
efficiency is lowest at low velocities, rises sharply, then falls as
velocity increases. However, the exact shape and magnitude of the curve
is not consistent between the materials. The difference between the
luminous efficiencies for iron and aluminum, particularly at high
velocities, indicates that it is not sufficient to use the same luminous
efficiency for all compositions and velocities.