However, it is not the fast-moving meteoroid that causes the radar echo. The radio signal bounces off the ionized air left behind when the meteoroid disintegrates in the atmosphere. As a result there is no observable Doppler shift in the meteor echo. The meteor echo appears in the dynamic spectrum as a nearly horizontal line exhibiting no drift in frequency. The echo describes a slanted line in the frequency-time domain that is characteristic of the doppler shifted echoes from satellites and spacecraft, but not from meteor trails.
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