Hydrogen emission from meteors and meteorites: mapping traces of H2O molecules and organic compounds in small Solar system bodies
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY(2022)
Abstract
The hydrogen emission from meteors is assumed to originate mainly from the meteoroid composition, making it a potential tracer of H2O molecules and organic compounds. H alpha line was previously detected in individual fireballs, but its variation in a larger meteor data set and dependence on the dynamical origin and physical properties have not yet been studied. Here, we investigate the relative intensity of H alpha within 304 meteor spectra observed by the AMOS (All-sky Meteor Orbit System) network. We demonstrate that H alpha emission is favoured in faster meteors (v(i) > > 30 km s(-1)) which form the high-temperature spectral component. H alpha was found to be a characteristic spectral feature of cometary meteoroids with similar to 92 per cent of all meteoroids with detected H alpha originating from Halley-type and long-period orbits. Our results suggest that hydrogen is being depleted from meteoroids with lower perihelion distances (q < 0.4 au). No asteroidal meteoroids with detected H emission were found. However, using spectral data from simulated ablation of different meteorite types, we show that H emission from asteroidal materials can occur, and apparently correlates with their water and organic matter content. Strongest H emission was detected from carbonaceous chondrites (CM and CV) and achondrites (ureilite and aubrite), while it was lacking in most ordinary chondrites. The detection of H alpha in asteroidal meteoroids could be used to identify meteoroids of carbonaceous or achondritic composition. Overall, our results suggest that H alpha emission correlates with the emission of other volatiles (Na and CN) and presents a suitable tracer of water and organic matter in meteoroids.
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Key words
astrobiology, techniques: spectroscopic, surveys, meteorites, meteors, meteoroids
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