Earth, Moon, and Planets 95, 245--253 (2005)

Elemental abundances in Leonid and Perseid meteoroids

Jiri Borovicka

Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences, 251 65 Ondřejov, Czech Republic

Abstract. High dispersion photographic spectra of three Leonid and five Perseid meteors are used to derive relative abundances of nine chemical elements in the radiating meteoric vapors and in the meteoroids. Al and Ca were found to be incompletely evaporated in the main spectral component at 5000 K but completely evaporated in the second component at 10,000 K. Si lines are present in both components which enhances the reliability of determination of the Si abundance. The composition of the meteoroids was found to be more similar to comet Halley than to chondritic meteoroids. Fe, Cr, and Mn are depleted and Si, Na, and H are enhanced relative to Mg in comparison with CI chondrites.

Keywords: Meteors - meteoroids - spectroscopy - composition - comets

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