CEDAR: Clustering of Instruments for the Study of Long- Enduring Meteor Trails

研究人员正在观察一种非凡的物理现象：一些流星留下的长寿发光痕迹。研究人员利用阿雷西博天文台和星火光学范围，在1997年11月、1998年11月和1999年11月的狮子座流星雨期间进行了观测。首先，他们希望确切地观察到40年前预测(但尚未证实)的陨石烟雾和尘埃的形成。接下来，他们调查了钠夜光带作为长寿命视觉痕迹的潜在来源，尘埃等离子体物理作为雷达散射的贡献者，以及流星痕迹和流星后面钠原子的烧蚀和随后的动力学的非相干散射报告。最后，他们正在确定这些轨迹用于重力波研究的可行性。

Investigators are observing a remarkable physical phenomenon: long-lived luminous trails left behind by some meteors. Using the Arecibo Observatory and the Starfire Optical Range, researchers are observing during the Leonids meteor showers in November of 1997, 1998, and 1999. Primarily, they hope to definitively observe meteoric smoke and dust formation, predicted (but not yet verified) forty years ago. Next, they investigate the sodium nightglow band as a potential source for long-lived visual trails, dusty plasma physics as a contributor to radar scatter, and incoherent scatter reports of meteor trails and the ablation and subsequent dynamics of sodium atoms behind a meteor. Finally, they are determining these trails' feasibility for gravity wave studies.