Detecting and Analyzing Meteor Persistent Trains in Widefield Optical Images

Persistent trains (PTs) are lingering, self-emitting optical emissions sometimes observed after the initial meteor streaks. Based on data from the Leonids outbursts in 1999 – early 2000, these phenomena have been associated with bright, high velocity meteors, located in the brightest portion of the meteor. To further examine this population of PT-producing meteors, a widefield camera was deployed at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico to take long exposure (5 second) images. These images were then run through a custom pipeline to identify PTs, with 40 being identified thus far. Using the Global Meteor Network, a database of observed meteor events and their parameters, the statistics of these PTs were determined. It was found that the majority of observed PTs occurred at relatively slow speeds, and that dim meteors (minimum peak magnitude: 1.22) were also capable of producing PTs. Additionally, in a few cases the PT occurred in the dim portion of the meteor streak. Cursory analysis shows that PT production is dependent on the mass rather than the energy of the meteor. These observations seem to challenge the previous assumptions about the nature of PTs.