A practical method for the analysis of meteor spectra

Abstract: The analysis of meteor spectra (photographic, CCD or video recording) is complicated by the fact that spectra obtained with objective gratings are curved and have a nonlinear dispersion. In this paper it is shown that with a simple image transformation the spectra can be linearized in such a way that individual spectra over the whole image plane are parallel and have a constant, linear dispersion. This simplifies the identification and measurement of meteor spectral lines. A practical method is given to determine the required image transformation.