Observations of an Unexpected Meteor Shower Outburst at High Ecliptic Southern Latitude and Its Potential Origin

Diego Janches,Juan Sebastian Bruzzone,Claudio Brunini,Robert J Weryk,Jose Luis Hormaechea,Paul Wiegert

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab9181

Abstract

Abstract A strong and unexpected meteor shower outburst was observed by the Southern Argentina Agile MEteor Radar Orbital System (SAAMER-OS) at high southern ecliptic latitude within the South Toroidal region. The outburst, which was active throughout solar longitudes 351° and 352°, peaked at 09:30 UT on 2020 March 12, has a mean Sun-centered ecliptic radiant of λ − λ 0 ∼ 307.°5 and β ∼ −77.°2 and a geocentric velocity of 30.7 km s−1. Using the parameter criterion, we find the corresponding orbital elements of the outburst to match well with both the β Tucanid and δ Mensid meteor showers, suggesting these are in fact the same shower. We also find a promising parent candidate in asteroid (248590) 2006 CS, a large (D ∼ 2 km) highly inclined 52° near-Earth object.

Highlights

The majority of the incoming meteoroid flux originating from the Zodiacal Dust Cloud is in the mass range of 10−14 to 10−7 kg, which enters the atmosphere at speeds between 11 and 72 km s−1 (Ceplecha et al 1998)
All-sky very high frequency (VHF) meteor radars detect mainly specular meteor trails, which are generally semi-stationary plasma columns of lower electron line density left in the wake of the meteoroids trajectory (Baggaley 2002)
In this Letter, we reported the observations of an unexpected very active meteor shower outburst utilizing the Southern Argentina Agile MEteor Radar Orbital System (SAAMEROS)

Summary

Introduction

The majority of the incoming meteoroid flux originating from the Zodiacal Dust Cloud is in the mass range of 10−14 to 10−7 kg, which enters the atmosphere at speeds between 11 and 72 km s−1 (Ceplecha et al 1998). All-sky very high frequency (VHF) meteor radars detect mainly specular meteor trails, which are generally semi-stationary plasma columns of lower electron line density left in the wake of the meteoroids trajectory (Baggaley 2002) These systems are generally dedicated to meteor observations, and over time are capable of collecting large data sets of meteoroid statistics. These cover various conditions, namely, the seasonal and diurnal changes to the Earth’s orientation and location in space, as well as to monitor for meteor shower activity, and detect both expected and unexpected outbursts (Campbell-Brown & Wiegert 2009; Janches et al 2015).

Instrumentation and Data Analysis

Results and Discussion

Conclusions