THE CORE OF THE QUADRANTID METEOROID STREAM IS TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD

Abstract

The Quadrantids are one of the most active annual meteor showers and have a number of unusual features. One is a sharp brief maximum, 12–14 h in length. A second is the Quadrantids, relatively recent appearance in our skies, the first observation having likely been made in 1835. Until recently no likely parent with a similar orbit had been observed and previous investigators concluded that the stream was quite old, with the stream’s recent appearance and sharp peak attributed to a recent fortuitous convergence of meteoroid orbits. The recent discovery of the near-Earth asteroid 2003 EH1 on an orbit very similar to that of the Quadrantids has almost certainly uncovered the parent body of this stream. From the simulations of the orbit of this body and of meteoroids released at intervals from it in the past, we find that both the sharp peak and recent appearance of the Quadrantids can most easily be explained assuming meteoroids were ejected in substantial numbers near 1800 AD.