Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA

Recently, low-frequency, broad-band radio emission has been observed accompanying bright meteors by the Long Wavelength Array (LWA). The broad-band spectra between 20 and 60 MHz were captured for several events, while the spectral index (dependence of flux density on frequency, with Sν ∝ να) was est...

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Main Authors: Zhang, X., Hancock, P., Devillepoix, H., Wayth, R., Beardsley, A., Crosse, B., Emrich, David, Franzen, T., Gaensler, B., Horsley, L., Johnston-Hollitt, M., Kaplan, D., Kenney, D., Morales, M., Pallot, D., Steele, K., Tingay, S., Trott, C., Walker, M., Williams, A., Wu, C., Ji, J., Ma, Y.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Oxford University Press 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70155
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author Zhang, X.
Hancock, P.
Devillepoix, H.
Wayth, R.
Beardsley, A.
Crosse, B.
Emrich, David
Franzen, T.
Gaensler, B.
Horsley, L.
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
Kaplan, D.
Kenney, D.
Morales, M.
Pallot, D.
Steele, K.
Tingay, S.
Trott, C.
Walker, M.
Williams, A.
Wu, C.
Ji, J.
Ma, Y.
author_facet Zhang, X.
Hancock, P.
Devillepoix, H.
Wayth, R.
Beardsley, A.
Crosse, B.
Emrich, David
Franzen, T.
Gaensler, B.
Horsley, L.
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
Kaplan, D.
Kenney, D.
Morales, M.
Pallot, D.
Steele, K.
Tingay, S.
Trott, C.
Walker, M.
Williams, A.
Wu, C.
Ji, J.
Ma, Y.
author_sort Zhang, X.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Recently, low-frequency, broad-band radio emission has been observed accompanying bright meteors by the Long Wavelength Array (LWA). The broad-band spectra between 20 and 60 MHz were captured for several events, while the spectral index (dependence of flux density on frequency, with Sν ∝ να) was estimated to be −4 ± 1 during the peak of meteor afterglows. Here we present a survey of meteor emission and other transient events using the Murchison Wide Field Array (MWA) at 72–103 MHz. In our 322 h survey, down to a 5σ detection threshold of 3.5 Jy beam−1, no transient candidates were identified as intrinsic emission from meteors. We derived an upper limit of −3.7 (95  per cent confidence limit) on the spectral index in our frequency range. We also report detections of other transient events, such as reflected FM broadcast signals from small satellites, conclusively demonstrating the ability of the MWA to detect and track space debris on scales as small as 0.1 m in low Earth orbits.
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format Journal Article
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:44:15Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Oxford University Press
recordtype eprints
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-701552018-09-13T06:22:09Z Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA Zhang, X. Hancock, P. Devillepoix, H. Wayth, R. Beardsley, A. Crosse, B. Emrich, David Franzen, T. Gaensler, B. Horsley, L. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kaplan, D. Kenney, D. Morales, M. Pallot, D. Steele, K. Tingay, S. Trott, C. Walker, M. Williams, A. Wu, C. Ji, J. Ma, Y. Recently, low-frequency, broad-band radio emission has been observed accompanying bright meteors by the Long Wavelength Array (LWA). The broad-band spectra between 20 and 60 MHz were captured for several events, while the spectral index (dependence of flux density on frequency, with Sν ∝ να) was estimated to be −4 ± 1 during the peak of meteor afterglows. Here we present a survey of meteor emission and other transient events using the Murchison Wide Field Array (MWA) at 72–103 MHz. In our 322 h survey, down to a 5σ detection threshold of 3.5 Jy beam−1, no transient candidates were identified as intrinsic emission from meteors. We derived an upper limit of −3.7 (95  per cent confidence limit) on the spectral index in our frequency range. We also report detections of other transient events, such as reflected FM broadcast signals from small satellites, conclusively demonstrating the ability of the MWA to detect and track space debris on scales as small as 0.1 m in low Earth orbits. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70155 10.1093/mnras/sty930 Oxford University Press fulltext
spellingShingle Zhang, X.
Hancock, P.
Devillepoix, H.
Wayth, R.
Beardsley, A.
Crosse, B.
Emrich, David
Franzen, T.
Gaensler, B.
Horsley, L.
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
Kaplan, D.
Kenney, D.
Morales, M.
Pallot, D.
Steele, K.
Tingay, S.
Trott, C.
Walker, M.
Williams, A.
Wu, C.
Ji, J.
Ma, Y.
Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA
title Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA
title_full Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA
title_fullStr Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA
title_full_unstemmed Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA
title_short Limits on radio emission from meteors using the MWA
title_sort limits on radio emission from meteors using the mwa
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70155