[meteorite-list] color of lunar meteors

From: Randy Korotev <korotev_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Aug 22 15:22:05 2006
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.0.20060822140017.03735e50_at_levee.wustl.edu>

I suspect that for most meteors, the incandescent material is so hot
that most of the light is from black body radiation, not electronic
emission. If so, then the composition is irrelevant.

http://www.egglescliffe.org.uk/physics/astronomy/blackbody/bbody.html

I really don't know the temperature, though.

If composition is a factor, then I can't think of any reason why
lunar meteors would be a significantly different color than
asteroidal meteors. All meteorites are low in Na (compared to earth rocks):

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/meteorites/chemclass/all_meteorites/nak.htm

Na is a strong emitter and the cause of the yellow incandescence
we're all familiar with (like, in sticking a piece of paper in a
natural gas flame). Lunar rocks have very low (sub ppm)
concentrations of Cu (= green). They're also much lower in Ni than chondrites:

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/meteorites/chemclass/all_meteorites/ni.htm

Most lunar meteorites are not basalts, but anorthosites ("highlands"
in figures),

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/meteorites/chemclass/chemclass.htm

which are rich in Al and Ca compared to chondrites:

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/meteorites/chemclass/all_meteorites/alca.htm

Neither ionic Al or Ca is particularly "colorful" as an electronic emitter.

Randy Korotev
Received on Tue 22 Aug 2006 03:21:05 PM PDT