Meteor excitation and meteoroid abundances from quantitative spectroscopy

Meteor spectroscopy provides both quantitative data on the excitation conditions in the meteor plasma, the progressive ablation of mineral species in the meteoroid, and the meteoroid's elemental abundances for selected elements. The recent NASA and USAF sponsored Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign provided high-resolution spectra of relatively faint meteors using a slit-less cooled CCD spectrograph. Additional observations from ground and space extended the wavelength range from 250 to 1050 nm. We have measured excitation conditions in the meteor plasma from studies of meteoric air plasma emissions (N_2, N, O, O_2) and ablated metal atom line emissions (Fe). Results were compared to laboratory calibrated air plasma emission models and LTE models of metal atom line emissions. Further insight was provided by a spectrum recorded serendipitously at the European Southern Observatory VLT telescope, which provides the first spectral information over a cross-section of a meteor trail. We also searched for emissions from CN, H, and OH that may be ablation products of organic matter and mineral water contained in the meteoroid. We will present an overview of the information gathered to date and discuss the meteoric metal atom abundances (Fe, Mg, Si, Na, Ca, Mn, Al, Ni, Ti, Sc, Cr, Co, and V) measured for representative meteoroids.