Veronika Pazderova, Comenius University; Ji?í ilha, Comenius University; Pavol Matlovic, Comenius University; Juraj Toth, Comenius University; Leonard Kornos, Comenius University; Pavol Zigo, Comenius University; Peter Veres, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Keywords: reentry, all-sky meteor camera, video, modelling
Abstract:
A re-entry event was captured on October 24th 22:01 HST (25th 08:01:37 UTC) by the AMOS systems on the Haleakal? and Maunakea Observatories in Hawaii. Reentering rocked body CZ-3B R/B (2008-055B), used to launch VENESAT-1 in 2008, was visible as rapidly moving group of meteor-like light sources leaving trails crossing the entire night sky. The event was recorded by two AMOS all-sky video systems and a high-resolution spectral camera, that captured a faint emission spectrum of the ablating rocket parts.
AMOS, the All-sky Meteor Orbit System, is a system dedicated to automatic detection and orbit determination of meteors. The system has been developed and is operated by the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (FMPI CU). AMOS system consists of two different components, the AMOS-Cam and AMOS-Spec. AMOS-Cam is designed for meteor detection and observation, but could be used for meteorological, geophysical, aviation or satellite observations. Two AMOS cameras are installed in Canary Islands, two in Chile and two in Hawaii. Four systems are operating in Slovakia. The network is about to be expanded by adding stations in central and eastern Slovakia and in south Africa and Australia.
The disintegrated CZ-3B object was the third stage of the Long March 3B rocket. It had a cylindrical shape with the base of 3 m in diameter, height of 12.4 m and dry mass of 2.8 metric tons. Reentries of such massive objects are quite common, with roughly 3-4 objects in average entering the atmosphere each month. These events are usually accompanied with the explosion of the parent body which leads to fragments traveling at similar trajectories on the sky. Observations from two different locations allow estimation of the atmospheric trajectories of individual fragments with accuracy of few dozens of meters.
We are going to present the details of 50 second re-entry event captured by two AMOS cameras installed in Hawaii Islands. The exact time of possible disintegration of the parent body, as well preliminary results of the analysis of the selected fragments, their photometry and trajectory, will be discussed.
Date of Conference: September 14-17, 2021
Track: Optical Systems & Instrumentation