Detection of Radio Emission from Fireballs

TL;DR

This study reports the detection of a new type of low-frequency radio emission from fireballs, using the LWA1 array, revealing insights into meteor physics and expanding the understanding of natural radio transients.

Contribution

First detection of low-frequency, non-thermal radio pulses emitted by fireballs, using extensive all-sky imaging data from the LWA1 array.

Findings

Identified 49 long-duration radio transients in all-sky images.

10 transients correlated with large meteors (fireballs).

Fireballs emit a previously unknown low-frequency radio pulse.

Abstract

We present the findings from the Prototype All-Sky Imager (PASI), a backend correlator of the first station of the Long Wavelength Array (LWA1), which has recorded over 11,000 hours of all-sky images at frequencies between 25 and 75 MHz. In a search of this data for radio transients, we have found 49 long (10s of seconds) duration transients. Ten of these transients correlate both spatially and temporally with large meteors (fireballs), and their signatures suggest that fireballs emit a previously undiscovered low frequency, non-thermal pulse. This emission provides a new probe into the physics of meteors and identifies a new form of naturally occurring radio transient foreground.