Question about meteor color: Is the bright green tint in this capture mostly due to magnesium composition?

by Rogue_Gardenia

9 Comments

  1. Rogue_Gardenia on

    I caught this bright‏‏‎ ‎meteor while‏‏‎ ‎shooting the galactic core. I’ve read that the‏‏‎ ‎green glow‏‏‎ ‎is often ionized oxygen or‏‏‎ ‎magnesium. Can anyone‏‏‎ ‎confirm if this is typical?

  2. Magnesium, copper, and nickel can all be a cause. But my understanding is that it’s typically magnesium. It’s also just based on the chemistry occurring with the speed and heat interacting with neutral oxygen atoms.

    Edit: this also doesn’t appear to be OC. And doing a dig on OP, they have been spam posting random pics like this that have been called out multiple times.

  3. The color of a meteor is extremely complex, and despite an important part of it comes from its elemental composition, it’s not possible to pinpoint the main color to one single element of it. First, part of the color comes from the elements of the rock and part from emissions from the atmosphere (more or less like the colors of the auroras). Second, the rock is a mixture of minerals (and elements), and the main emissions are usually from Mg and Fe (both very similar in the greenish range of the spectrum), Na (yellow) and Ca (purpleish). The intensity of each contribution is not proportional to the concentration of the element as each element has its temperature of ionization. I recommend some works on the emission/elemental analysis of meteors like this one: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833289