Structure and fragmentation of meteoroids

Abstract

This paper is a review of the present knowledge on the structure of meteoroids. A summary of the evidence concerning the common occurrence of fragmentation among both photographic and radio meteors is given first. Then, an attempt is made to examine all the present observational, theoretical and laboratory data on the luminous and ionizing efficiencies of meteors, with the aim of establishing a mass scale. This allows the computation of the bulk density of meteoroids, which, on the average, turns out to be about 0.3 g/cm³. The paramount importance of progressive fragmentation, the behavior of abrupt-beginning meteors and the low density of nearly all meteoroids (even of those of relatively large sizes) support a porous and fragile structure for most of these particles. In turn, the crumbly structure and the cometary origin confirm Whipple's theory of comets and meteor production. A critical analysis of recent papers proposing different conclusions shows that the new theories always arrive at results which do not agree with well-established observational data.