Investigators are observing a remarkable physical phenomenon: long-lived luminous trails left behind by some meteors. Using the Arecibo Observatory and the Starfire Optical Range, researchers are observing during the Leonids meteor showers in November of 1997, 1998, and 1999. Primarily, they hope to definitively observe meteoric smoke and dust formation, predicted (but not yet verified) forty years ago. Next, they investigate the sodium nightglow band as a potential source for long-lived visual trails, dusty plasma physics as a contributor to radar scatter, and incoherent scatter reports of meteor trails and the ablation and subsequent dynamics of sodium atoms behind a meteor. Finally, they are determining these trails' feasibility for gravity wave studies.
