The orbit of the Eta Aquarid meteor stream

Abstract

The orbit and radiant motion of the Eta Aquarid meteor stream is studied based on 17 photographic double-station meteors and 6 TV double-station meteors. There is excellent agreement between the mean orbits derived from the photographic and TV-observed data sets. A mean Eta Aquarid orbit based on the combined photographic and TV data shows good agreement with the orbit of comet 1986 III (Halley) in most of the orbital elements. The main discrepancies are in the argument of perihelion and in the node where the orbital elements of P/Halley show higher values. However, the ecliptic latitude and longitude of the perihelion are very similar for meteor stream and parent comet.