Prediction of the collisions of meteoroids originating in comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner with the Mercury, Venus, and Mars

Abstract

After the prediction of meteor showers in the Earth’s atmosphere caused by the particles originating in the nucleus of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, we went on with the prediction of showers on the other three terrestrial planets. Based on our modeling of theoretical stream of the parent comet, we predicted several related impacted meteoroid (on Mercury) or meteor (on Venus and Mars) showers. There occurred the filaments, in the stream, with the particles coming to each planet from a similar direction. We found that this is a consequence of the specific distribution of argument of perihelion (peaked close to the value of 180°) and longitude of ascending node of the stream, and that the particles collide with each planet in an arc of their orbits being close to perihelion.