Forbidden mass ranges for shower meteoroids

Abstract

Burns et al. (1979) use the parameter β to describe the ratio of radiation pressure to gravity experienced by a small particle in the solar system. The central potential that these particles experience is effectively reduced by a factor of (1 − β), lowering the escape velocity. Burns et al. (1979) also provide a simple expression for the value of β at which particles ejected from a comet follow parabolic orbits and thus leave the solar system; this paper expands on this to calculate critical β values that take ejection velocity into account. We first derive an expression for the speed at which particles are ejected from a comet that is valid at all particle sizes. We then calculate β values for both idealized and real materials to determine which particles will be lost from meteor streams. We perform these calculations for cometary ejecta leading, trailing, and following the parent comet's nucleus for 10 major meteor showers. These values bound mass regimes within which meteoroids are ejected from the solar system and therefore cannot contribute to meteor showers.