Precisely reduced meteoroid trajectories and orbits from the 1995 Leonid meteor outburst

Abstract

The discovery of enhanced Leonid activity in 1994 led to the mounting of a multi-station photographic campaign on two continents during the Leonids of 1995. The goal was to determine orbits and trajectories of outburst Leonids. The outburst did recur as predicted, resulting in 23 precisely reduced Leonid orbits and 30 Leonid trajectories. Individual velocities and radiant positions, as well as the average orbit are presented. It is found that the distribution of Leonid radiants contains a dense cluster of seven radiant positions. This clustering is tentatively associated with the visually observed outburst component. These seven meteors provide the first orbital elements of outburst Leonids and put strong constraints on theoretical models of the origin and evolution of the Leonid stream.