Radar Studies of the Orbits of Small Meteoroids

A description is given of a radar facility operating in New Zealand which measures the atmospheric trajectories and hence heliocentric orbits of earth-impacting meteoroids having radiants with declinations +5-degrees < delta < -30-degrees down to a limiting radar meteor magnitude of +13 (corresponding to particle sizes of approximately 100 mum, masses approximately 10(-6) g). The data handling capacity of the facility permits recording, orbit reduction and efficient presentation of orbital data using graphical packages to be carried out on a routine basis. The daily yield is approximately 1500 individual orbits with >3 x 10(5) secured to date; this is greater than the number determined in all previous meteoroid orbit surveys combined and forms a major southern hemisphere database for dynamical studies of the solar system meteoroid population.