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Recombination in Radar Meteors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Richard B. Southworth
Richard B. Southworth*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Astrophysical ObservatoryCambridge, Massachusetts

Extract

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Recombination of the Electrons in the ionized column has often been considered (see, for example, Öpik, 1955), but the uncertainties in the atomic and molecular species present and in the rate constants have made it difficult to predict. Furthermore, recombination has not been recognized in the observations, so that it has been judged to be negligible (McKinley, 1961). More recently, however, a relatively high rate constant has been found for dissociative recombination of certain molecular ions. We have now observed recombination at comparable rates in our radar meteor recordings.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 13: Evolutionary and Physical Properties of Meteoroids , June 1971 , pp. 13 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © NASA 1971

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