Meteor Orbits Research Articles

The occurence of interstellar meteoroids in the vicinity of the Earth

AbstractIf interstellar meteors are present among the registered meteor orbits, the distribution of the excesses of their heliocentric velocities should correspond to the distribution of radial velocities of close stars. Hence, for the velocity vi = 20 kms−1 of an interstellar meteor (with respect to the Sun) we obtain a heliocentric velocity vH = 46.6 kms−1 of an interstellar meteor arriving at the Earth. Moreover, a concentration of radiants to the Sun's apex should be observed. An analysis of the hyperbolic meteors among the 4581 photographic orbits of the IAU Meteor Data Center showed that the identification of the vast majority of the hyperbolic orbits in these catalogues has been caused by an erroneous determination of their heliocentric velocity and/or other parameters. Any error in the determination of vH, especially near the parabolic limit, can create an artificial hyperbolic orbit that does not really exist. On the basis of photographic meteors from the IAU MDC, the proportion of possible interstellar meteors decreased significantly (greater than 1 order of magnitude) after error analysis and does not exceed the value 2.5 × 10−4. Neither any concentration of radiants to the Sun's apex, nor any distribution following the motion of interstellar material has been found.

Determination of Meteoroid Orbits and Spatial Fluxes by Using High-Resolution All-Sky CCD Cameras

By using high-resolution, low-scan-rate, all-sky CCD cameras, the SPanish Meteor Network (SPMN) is currently monitoring meteor and fireball activity on a year round basis. Here are presented just a sampling of the accurate trajectory, radiant and orbital data obtained for meteors imaged simultaneously from two SPMN stations during the continuous 2006–2007 coverage of meteor and fireball monitoring. Typical astrometric uncertainty is 1–2 arc min, while velocity determination errors are of the order of 0.1–0.5 km/s, which is dependent on the distance of each event to the station and its particular viewing geometry. The cameras have demonstrated excellent performance for detecting meteor outbursts. The recent development of automatic detection software is also providing real-time information on the global meteor activity. Finally, some examples of the all-sky CCD cameras applications for detecting unexpected meteor activity are given.

The IMO Virtual Meteor Observatory (VMO): Architectural Design

This paper describes the progress on the Virtual Meteor Observatory (VMO), a database which is being developed at ESA/RSSD to store video meteor observations and their derived orbits. The VMO was triggered by a discussion which took place at the first Meteor Orbit Determination (MOD) workshop in Roden, The Netherlands, in September 2006. Representatives of 15 groups working on the determination of meteor orbits and working with the resulting orbits discussed the design and implementation of a database which would combine different meteor orbit datasets. From this the concept of the VMO was born, which will, in the long run, allow accessing meteor observations via the internet. In the beginning, it will focus on meteor orbit data obtained with video systems. This paper presents the architectural design of the database as it has been defined in the meantime.

Search for Past Signs of October Ursae Majorids

A new meteroid stream—October Ursa Majorids—was announced by Japanese observers on Oct. 14–16, 2006 (Uehara et al. 2006). Its weak manifestation was detected among coincidental major meteor showers (N/S Taurids, Orionids), as its meteors radiated from a higher placed radiant on the northern sky. We have tried to find out previous displays of the stream throughout available meteor orbits databases, and among ancient celestial phenomena records. Although we got no obvious identification, there are some indications that it could be a meteor shower of cometary origin with weak/irregular activity, mostly overlayed by regular coincidental meteor showers. With a procedure based on D-criterion (Southworth and Hawkins 1963) we found a few records in IAU MDC database of meteor photographic orbits which fulfill common similarity limits, for October Ursae Majorids. However, their real association cannot be established, yet. With respect to the mean orbit of this stream, we suggest for its parent body a long-period comet.

A meteoroid stream survey using the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar: I. Methodology and radiant catalogue

Using a meteor orbit radar, a total of more than 2.5 million meteoroids with masses ∼10 −7 kg have had orbits measured in the interval 2002–2006. From these data, a total of 45 meteoroid streams have been identified using a wavelet transform approach to isolate enhancements in radiant density in geocentric coordinates. Of the recorded streams, 12 are previously unreported or unrecognized. The survey finds >90% of all meteoroids at this size range are part of the sporadic meteoroid background. A large fraction of the radar detected streams have q < 0.15 AU suggestive of a strong contribution from sungrazing comets to the meteoroid stream population currently intersecting the Earth. We find a remarkably long period of activity for the Taurid shower (almost half the year as a clearly definable radiant) and several streams notable for a high proportion of small meteoroids only, among these a strong new shower in January at the time of the Quadrantids (January Leonids). A new shower (Epsilon Perseids) has also been identified with orbital elements almost identical to Comet 96P/Machholz.

The Dynamics of Low-Perihelion Meteoroid Streams

The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) has collected information on a number of weak meteor showers that have not been well characterized in the literature. A subsample of these showers (1) do not show a strong orbital resemblance to any known comets or asteroids, (2) have highly inclined orbits, (3) are at low perihelion distances (\(\ll 1\) AU) and (4) are at small semimajor axes (<2 AU). Though one might conclude that the absence of a parent object could be the result of its disruption, it is unclear how this relatively inaccessible (dynamically speaking) region of phase space might have been populated by parents in the first place. It will be shown that the Kozai secular resonance and/or Poynting–Robertson drag can modify meteor stream orbits rapidly (on time scales comparable to a precession cycle) and may be responsible for placing some of these streams into their current locations. These same effects are also argued to act on these streams so as to contribute to the high-ecliptic latitude north and south toroidal sporadic meteor sources. There remain some differences between the simple model results presented here and observations, but there may be no need to invoke a substantial population of high-inclination parents for the observed high-inclination meteoroid streams with small perihelion distances.

Current Status of the Photographic Meteoroid Orbits Database and a Call for Contributions to a New Version

A central depository for meteor orbits obtained by photographic techniques, as a part of the IAU Meteor Data Center, was moved to the Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava in 2001. The current version of the catalogue contains data on 4581 meteor orbits obtained by 17 different stations or groups from the period 1936 to 1996. Since 1996 a few huge campaigns were organised including very successful Leonids and Perseids. That is why we would prepare a new more complete version of the database. The main aim of this paper is a call to the observers of meteors having new or recalculated/remeasured data on photographic meteors to send them to the MDC, where after a check and consultations with the observer, the orbits will be included in the database.

Meteors in the IAU Meteor Data Center on Hyperbolic Orbits

The hyperbolic meteor orbits among the 4,581 photographic and 62,906 radar meteors of the IAU MDC have been analysed using statistical methods. It was shown that the vast majority of hyperbolic orbits has been caused by the dispersion of determined velocities. The large proportion of hyperbolic orbits among the known meteor showers strongly suggests the hyperbolicity of the meteors is not real. The number of apparent hyperbolic orbits increases inversely proportional to the difference between the mean heliocentric velocity of meteor shower and the parabolic velocity limit. The number of hyperbolic meteors in the investigated catalogues does not, in any case, represent the number of interstellar meteors in observational data. The apparent hyperbolicity of these orbits is caused by a high spread in velocity determination, shifting a part of the data through the parabolic limit.

The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar Meteor Stream Catalogue

The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar is a multi-frequency backscatter radar which has been in routine operation since 1999, with an orbit measurement capability since 2002. In total, CMOR has measured over 2 million orbits of meteoroids with masses greater than 10 μg, while recording more than 18 million meteor echoes in total. We have applied a two stage comparative technique for identifying meteor streams in this dataset by making use of clustering in radiants and velocities without employing orbital element comparisons directly. From the large dataset of single station echoes, combined radiant activity maps have been constructed by binning and then stacking each years data per degree of solar longitude. Using the single-station mapping technique described in Jones and Jones (Mon Not R Astron Soc 367:1050–1056, 2006) we have identified probable streams from these single station observations. Additionally, using individual radiant and velocity data from the multi-station velocity determination routines, we have utilized a wavelet search algorithm in radiant and velocity space to construct a list of probable streams. These two lists were then compared and only streams detected by both techniques, on multiple frequencies and in multiple years were assigned stream status. From this analysis we have identified 45 annual minor and major streams with high reliability.

Infrasonic Observations of Meteoroids: Preliminary Results from a Coordinated Optical-radar-infrasound Observing Campaign

Recent observations using the newly installed Elginfield infrasound array in coordination with the Southern Ontario all-sky meteor camera network and Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) has shown that the number of meteors producing infrasound at the Earth’s surface is more frequent than previously thought. These data show the flux of meteoroids capable of producing infrasound at the ground is at least 1/month and is limited to meteors with peak visual brightness above −2. Comparisons to current meteor infrasound theory show excellent agreement with amplitude and period predictions for weakly non-linear shock waves using a realistic vertically inhomogeneous atmosphere. Similar predictions show isothermal assumptions underestimate the amplitude by orders of magnitude.

Meteor Orbit Determinations with Multistatic Receivers Using the MU Radar

The MU radar of RISH (Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University), which is a MST radar (46.5 MHz, 1 MW peak power), has been successfully applied to meteor studies by using its very high versatility. The system has recently renewed with 25 channel digital receivers which significantly improved the sensitivity and precision of interferometer used in meteor observation. The transmission is now synchronized to GPS signals, and two external receiving sites with a ranging capability has additionally been operated in order to determine the trajectories and speeds of meteoroids.

Observational effect for the lunar gravity on meteor streams

Meteoroids always posed a great hazard to spacecraft security. A meteoroids stream assembled by a large massive body will further enhance the hazard severalfold. For example, the radiant of Northern Taurids (NTA) will be occulted by the Moon on Nov. 12, 2011. Since the gravitational lensing effect of massive bodies can gather together the orbits of meteoroids, the observable flux of meteoroids will increase. In this paper a set of numerical methods was built to discuss the observational effect of this kind of phenomena. The ZHR of NTA is generally small. But it can be local strong on the Earth by the lunar gravitational assembling. The calculated result suggests that a ten times stronger than normal NTA will appear in the sea area of Tristan da Cunha islands during 00h45m UT to 02h00m UT on Nov. 12, 2011.

On measuring energetic (more than 5 MeV) proton fluxes with “METEOR” satellite type

The solar proton data received from various satellites differ from each other making it difficult for modeling. In present paper the proton fluxes data from the solar flares with the GOES and METEOR detectors comparison and analysis of the possible origin of the differences between these values is carried out. The conditions of observation correspond with open space for both satellites. It is deep polar cap for METEOR and geostationary orbit with R = 6.6 for GOES. The GOES fluxes were recalculated to threshold energy of the METEOR with interpolation and 1 h averaging. The METEOR threshold energy was accepted as 5 MeV (1), 15 MeV (2), 32 MeV (M), 40 MeV (3) and 90 MeV (4). It pays attention to abnormal behavior of the relationship for threshold energy equal to 5 MeV. Value of the factor k 1 = J GOES(5 MeV)/ J METEOR(5 MeV) exceed values of the others factors in 2 –2.5 times and there is abnormal dispersion (in comparison with the others factors) fluxes relation. We have done some investigations of K 1 dependence on the rigidity of the proton flux spectra in the same time for explanation such behavior of the K 1. The persistent regularity of K 1 indicates that the most part of the spread in values of K 1 is involved with dependence with spectra rigidity. The investigation of the dependence of the threshold energy of the METEOR detector with spectra rigidity of the proton flux was carried out. It results from analysis that large transfer zone from energy with effective area “ S” equals zero ( E < E 1) till energy with effective area “ S” equal to one. This is the relation of these energies: E 2/ E 1 = 5 ( E 1 = 4.2 MeV, E 2 = 21 MeV). The presence of such zone means that the detector effective area “ S” will be different for proton fluxes with different rigidity. After some mathematical transformations you can get that the proton fluxes (measured with 5 MeV METEOR detector) do not correspond to 5 MeV, but 7 MeV. Correction factor E( γ) increases with γ increase from value 1.40 for γ = 2 to value 2.24 for γ = 6 with central tendency about 2. The proton flux for detector with 5 MeV nominal threshold level must be doubling. It is necessary to do such adjustment for all METEOR data from 1972 year.

The Kappa Cygnid meteoroid complex

The Kappa Cygnid meteor shower was first identified in 1874. However, since it appears immediately after the well-known Perseid shower, very little attention has been paid to it. We have searched through catalogues of meteor orbits in order to derive the best possible set of elements for the mean stream. We have then used the MPC catalogue to search for comets and asteroids that have similar orbits, and so may be associated with the formation of the stream. Since the number of known asteroids is large, chance agreement at the current time in orbital elements is possible. By numerical integration, we have investigated the past orbital history of both stream and potential parent. Only if there is good agreement do we consider a relationship to have been established. We find that one asteroid 2001 MG1 matches the evolution of a subgroup of orbits, we also find that asteroid 2004 LA12 has a similar evolution and that both could be fragments of the original parent.

Meteor radiant activity mapping using single-station radar observations

We describe a method for producing high-resolution maps of the radiant distribution of meteor activity over the celestial sphere using single-station radio-meteor observations. The method uses a convolution technique and we show how a suitable convolution function can be chosen to enhance the apparent activity of meteor shower radiants. We apply this method to data produced by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar system near London, Ontario and show that the daily motion of the radiant can be measured within a fraction of a degree per day. The system has detected a number of weak showers that have not been previously catalogued. We show how the sensitivity of the system can be improved by combining observations from several days.

Orbital Elements of 2004 Perseid Meteoroids Perturbed by Jupiter

Jupiter and Saturn produce important gravitational impulses on meteoroids released by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The meteoroids from this comet once released follow retrograde orbits that during their periodic approaches to these planets (within 1.6 and 0.9 A.U., respectively) are impulsed gaining orbital energy. This perturbation effect is translated into a net inward shift in the node of the perturbed meteoroids. Such geometry with Jupiter occurred in 2004 over a meteoroid trail ejected by this comet during the 1862 A.D. return of the comet to perihelion. In order to study the predicted outburst produced by one-revolution meteoroids, the Spanish Photographic Meteor Network (SPMN) performed an extensive campaign. As a part of this observational effort here are presented 10 accurate meteoroid orbits. We discuss their origin by comparing them with the theoretical orbital elements of the dust trails intercepting the Earth during the 2004 Perseid return.

The Changes of the Orbital Elements and Estimation of the Initial Velocities of Stream Meteoroids Ejected from Comets and Asteroids

The values of the initial velocity of the meteoroids ejected from the parent bodies are small and as a result, the most of the young meteoroid streams have similar orbits to their parent bodies. Assuming that the members of the observed meteor stream evolved under the influence of gravitational perturbations mostly, Pittich [1991, Proceedings of the Conference on Dynamic of Small Bodies of the Solar System, Polish-Slovak Conference, Warsaw, October 25–28, 1988, pp. 55-61], Williams [1996, Earth, Moon, Planets72, 321–326; 2001, Proceedings of the Meteoroids 2001 conference, Kiruna, Sweden, August 6–10, 2001, pp. 33–42] estimated the ejection velocities of the stream meteoroids. Equation relating the ejection velocity Δυ and the change Δa of the semi-major axis, Williams (2001), was applied with two slightly different variations. In the first one (M1) as Δa the difference between the mean orbit of the stream and the orbit of the parent body was substituted, in the second one (M2), as Δa the dispersion of semi-major axes around the mean orbit of the stream was used. The results obtained by these two methods are not free from discrepancies, partly explained by the particular orbital structure of the stream. Kresak [1992, Contrib. Astron. Obs. Skalnate Pleso22, 123–130] strongly criticized the attempts to determine the initial velocities of the stream using the statistics of the meteor orbits. He argued that this is essentially impossible, because the dispersion of the initial velocities are masked by much larger measuring errors and by the accumulated effects of planetary perturbations. In our paper, we study the reliability of M1 and M2 methods. We made a numerical experiment consisting of formation of several meteor streams and their dynamical evolution over 5000 years. We ejected meteoroids particles from the comets: 1P/Halley, 2P/Encke, 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, 109P/Swift-Tuttle and from minor planets (3200) Phaethon and 2002 SY50. During the integration, the ejection velocities were estimated using both M1 and M2 methods. The results show that the velocities obtained by M1 method are unstable: too high or too low, when compared with the known ejection velocities at the time of the stream formation. On the other hand, the velocities obtained using M2 method are too small, mostly. In principle, M2 estimates the dispersion of the distribution of the ejection velocities around the mean value, not the mean value itself. Applying more accurate Equation relating Δυ and Δa we decreased the bias of the results, but not their variation observed during the evolution of the streams and the parent bodies. We have found that the variability of the estimated ejection velocities was caused mainly by the gravitational changes of the semi-major axis and eccentricity of the parent body. In brief, we have found that the reliability of the results obtained by M1 or M2 method are low, and have to be used with great care.

The Quadrantid meteoroid complex

The Quadrantids, one of the more active of the annual meteor showers, is unusual for its strong but brief maximum within a broader background of activity. It is also notable for its recent onset, the first observation having been likely made in 1835. Until recently, no 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 fortuitous convergence of meteoroid orbits. The discovery of the near-Earth Asteroid 2003 EH1 on an orbit very similar to that of the Quadrantids has probably unveiled the parent body of this stream [Jenniskens and Marsden, 2003. 2003 EH1 and the Quadrantids. IAU Circ. 8252]. From simulations of the orbit of this body and of meteoroids released from it at different intervals in the past, we find that both the sharp peak and recent appearance of the Quadrantids can most easily be explained by a release of meteoroids from 2003 EH1 near 1800 AD. This is supported by three lines of evidence. First, the evolution of the observed solar longitude of the Quadrantids over time is consistent with release from 2003 EH1 approximately 200 years ago. Second, numerical simulations of meteoroids released from this parent body at this time match the basic orbital characteristics of the Quadrantid stream well. Finally, these simulations also reveal that the Quadrantid core is well reproduced by a single outburst at perihelion circa 1800, whereas earlier releases result in the shower's appearance in our skies significantly prior to 1835. These results apply to the concentrated central core of the stream: the extended background was likely produced at earlier times. In fact, we find that 2003 EH1 is in a state of Kozai circulation along with a number of other comets and NEAs which may form a larger Quadrantid complex. Using the current total duration of the broader background Quadrantid activity compared to our simulations, we suggest a minimum age of ∼3500 years for the stream as a whole. This also represents the approximate lower limit for the age of the complex. We have further identified five comets as well as nine additional NEAs which may be part of the aforementioned complex, the latter all having Tisserand parameters less than three, further suggesting that the are extinct comet nuclei.

The radiant distribution of AMOR radar meteors

A large data set provided by the highly sensitive Advanced Meteor Orbit Radar (AMOR) facility is used to investigate the structure of the sporadic meteor complex. The helion, antihelion and apex apparent sources are clearly found. Observational bias is then removed to reveal the true source distributions as observed on Earth. A long-standing problem in meteor science has been the difference in observed meteor flux between the helion and antihelion source directions. Consideration of the effects of atmospheric interference and Faraday rotation is found to lead to a closer balance between these. The orbital distributions present within the different regions are also discussed. The apex region is found to have a strong retrograde component and a weaker prograde component that exists at high southerly latitudes and that contains orbits with particularly high inclinations. The retrograde component reduces substantially after inclusion of observational bias corrections. Care should be taken in comparing the results presented here with those from other radar systems: AMOR is sensitive to dust as small in diameter as ∼40 μm, while the limiting sensitivity of most contemporary systems is an order of magnitude larger.

Leonid Meteoroid Orbits Perturbed by Collisions with Interplanetary Dust

By analyzing high-accuracy Leonid orbits obtained from multiple-station meteor observations during the 1998 outburst and 1999 storm, we have detected the presence of meteoroids with peculiar orbits. These meteoroids are characterized by having a geocentric radiant nearly identical to the members of the storm that appeared with them but showing different orbital elements owing to their lower geocentric velocities. The changes in some orbital elements are significant and allow us to interpret the cause of such differences. Mainly, the semimajor axis and the eccentricity of these anomalous orbits are lower than expected for members of the dust trail or members coming from the background component linked to the annual stream. From these characteristics it is likely that these peculiar meteoroids suffered some perturbations on very short timescales. We have investigated several causes, including planetary perturbations, collisions, and radiative effects in order to explain the observed orbital changes. We conclude that these orbital changes can be explained by the loss of orbital energy close to the ecliptic plane. Such an effect can only be explained clearly by collisions of the original meteoroids with dust particles associated with the zodiacal dust cloud. We have applied this hypothesis in order to constrain some physical properties of 55P/Tempel-Tuttle cometary meteoroids.