The κ-Cygnid Meteor Shower and Its Relationship with Near-Earth Asteroids

Abstract

This study is focused on the relationships between the κ-Cygnid meteor shower and different groups of asteroids crossing the Earth’s orbit (the so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs)). The analysis is based on the visible structure of the meteor shower and a comprehensive strategy for estimating the proximity of orbits of two bodies. The κ-Cygnid meteor shower (abbreviated as KCG) is observed from August 3 to August 25 every year; it is classified as a minor shower, and the size of its mean orbit is around 3.2 AU, while the geocentric velocity is 20.9 km/s. No parent body (PB) of the shower has been found among comets so far. Relationships between the shower and asteroids, as potential PBs of the shower, are under active examination; some hypotheses on this subject can be found on the website of the Meteor Data Center (MDC) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).