Abstract
IT is now well established that when a meteor enters the earth‘s atmosphere it creates a trail of electrons at a height of approximately 100 km.1–4. During the 1946 Giacobinid shower, Hey, Parsons and Stewart5 measured the velocity of densely ionizing meteors by observing the radio wave scattered from the ionization at the head of the approaching meteor. We have recently succeeded in detecting the diffraction pattern of radio waves scattered from the electron trail as a meteor passes at right angles through the aerial beam. These observations lead directly to a measurement of the velocity of the meteor.
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References
Hey, J. S., and Stewart, G. S., Proc. Phys. Soc., 59, 858 (1947).
Prentice, J. P. M., Lovell, A. C. B., and Banwell, C. J., Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc., 107, 155 (1947).
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Lovell, A. C. B., Nature, 160, 670 (1947).
Hey, J. S., Parsons, S. J., and Stewart, G. S., Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc., 107, 176 (1947).
Herlofson, N., Rep. Progress in Phys., 11, 1948 (in the press).
Whipple, F. L., Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 91, 189 (1947).
Fisher, W., Harvard College Observ. Circ., No. 346 (1930).
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ELLYETT, C., DAVIES, J. Velocity of Meteors Measured by Diffraction of Radio Waves from Trails during Formation. Nature 161, 596–597 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161596a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161596a0
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