Meteor showers from known long-period comets

Peter Jenniskens, Dante S. Lauretta, Martin C. Towner, Steve Heathcote, Emmanuel Jehin, Toni Hanke, Tim Cooper, Jack W. Baggaley, J. Andreas Howell, Carl Johannink, Martin Breukers, Mohammad Odeh, Nicholas Moskovitz, Luke Juneau, Tim Beck, Marcelo De Cicco, Dave Samuels, Steve Rau, Jim Albers, Peter S. Gural

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

What long-period comets with orbital periods >250 years cause detectable meteor showers on Earth? Low-light video cameras are used to track the motion of +4 to −5 magnitude meteors in our atmosphere by triangulation and calculate the meteoroid orbit in space. In recent years, the CAMS (Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance) low-light video camera network was greatly expanded and, together with other video networks, now has increased the total video meteoroid orbit database to over 2.2 million orbits. Here, we searched this database for meteor showers associated with known long-period comets. Previously, five associations were known. Now, we find 14, as well as six uncertain but likely associations. These showers show a change of longitude of perihelion with node that is a strong function of inclination. Showers of longer duration show a steeper magnitude distribution index, presumably due to aging of the meteoroid population. Showers are generally detected only if the orbital period of the comet is less than 4000 years and the Earth-Comet orbital miss distance is ≤0.10 AU. The lack of an associated meteor shower sets lower limits on the orbital period of poorly observed comets.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number114469
JournalIcarus
Volume365
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2021

Keywords

  • Celestial mechanics
  • Comets, dust
  • Comets, dynamics
  • Comets, long period
  • Meteor showers, long period
  • Meteors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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