Near-Earth asteroids among the Scorpiids meteoroid complex

Abstract

A group of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that moved on similar orbits to each other and where the orbits could be classed as cometary were identified by searching the “Near-Earth Objects Dynamic Site” database. Six NEAs were identified, 2003HP2, 2006WX29, 2007VH189, 2007WT3, 2007WY3, and 2008UM1. The orbits were integrated back over one complete cycle in the variation of the argument of perihelion to identify times when their nodal distance was 1 AU. Theoretical meteoroids were assumed to have been released at these times on an orbit identical to those of the NEAs. The characteristics of a meteor shower that would be formed when these meteoroids hit the Earth’s atmosphere were calculated. It was found that the showers produced from all six NEAs were identical and could be recognized as the nighttime χ - and δ -Scorpiids and the daytime β - and σ -Librids, the latter two being named by us. It was also found that the orbital evolution of the Scorpiids was almost identical to the orbital evolution of the six NEAs. The similarity of the orbits, the nature of the orbit as cometary and the association of the Scorpiid meteoroid stream lead us to suggest that the origin of the whole complex was the fragmentation of some unknown comet several millennia ago.