Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:16:34.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cometary and Asteroidal Origins of Meteors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Lubor Kresák
Lubor Kresák*
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of SciencesBratislava, Czechoslovakia

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A quantitative examination of the gravitational and nongravitational changes of orbits shows that for larger interplanetary bodies the perturbations by Jupiter strongly predominate over all other effects, which include perturbations by other planets, splitting of comet nuclei and jet effects of cometary ejections. In an approximation to the restricted three-body problem, Sun-Jupiter-comet/asteroid, the value of the Jacobian integral represents a parameter of conspicuous stability which can be applied to delineate the evolutionary paths of the potential parent bodies of the meteoroids in the system of conventional orbital elements. Earth-crossing orbits can be reached along three main paths by the comets, and along two by the asteroids.

The structure of meteor streams, however, indicates that the mutual compensation of the changes in individual elements entering the Jacobian integral, which is characteristic for the comets, does not work among the meteoroids. It appears that additional forces of a different kind must exert appreciable influence on the motion of interplanetary particles of meteoroid size. Nevertheless, the distribution of the Jacobian constant in various samples of meteor orbits, from those of faint Super-Schmidt meteors up to those of meteorite-dropping fireballs, furnishes some information on the type of their parent bodies and on the relative contribution of individual sources.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 13: Evolutionary and Physical Properties of Meteoroids , June 1971 , pp. 331 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © NASA 1971

References

Belyaev, N. A., 1967. The orbit evolution of comets Neujmin 2 (1916 II), Comas Sola (1927 III), Schwassmann-Wachmann 2 (1929 I) for 400 years (1660-2060), Astron. Zh., 44, 461–470.Google Scholar
Ceplecha, Z., 1970. private communication.Google Scholar
Chebotarev, G. A., 1970. Ephemerides of minor planets for 1971, Nauka, Leningrad, 166 pp.Google Scholar
Everhart, E., and Raghavan, N., 1970. Changes in total energy of long-period comets, 1800-1970, Astron. J., 75, 258–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, G. S., and Southworth, R. B., 1961. Orbital elements of meteors, Smithson. Contrib. Astrophys., 4, 85–95.Google Scholar
Jacchia, L. G., and Whipple, P. L., 1961. Precision orbits of 413 photographic meteors, Smithson. Contrib. Astrophys., 4, 97–129.Google Scholar
Kazimirchak-Polonskaya, H. I., 1967. Evolution des orbites des comètes a courte période au cours des années 1660-2060 et le rôle des planètes extérieures dans cette évolution, Astron. Zh., 44, 439–460.Google Scholar
Kresák, L., 1967. Relation of meteor orbits to the orbits of comets and asteroids, Smithson. Contrib. Astrophys., 11, 9–34.Google Scholar
Kresák, L., 1968. The relation between orbits and physical characteristics of meteors, in Physics and Dynamics of Meteors, edited by Kresák, L. and Millman, P. M., D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, 217–235.Google Scholar
Kresák, L., 1969. The discrimination between cometary and asteroidal meteors. II. The orbits and physical characteristics of meteors, Bull. Astron. Inst. Czech., 20, 231–251.Google Scholar
Kresák, L., 1970. On the orbits of bright fireballs, Bull. Astron. Inst. Czech., 21, 1–9.Google Scholar
Kresák, L., 1972. On the dividing line between cometary and asteroidal orbits, in The Motion, Evolution of Orbits and Origin of Comets (I.A.TJ. Symposium No. 45), edited by Chebotarev, G. A., Kazimirchak-Polonskaya, H. I., and Marsden, B. G., D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, 503–514.Google Scholar
Kresák, L., and Porubcan, V., 1970. The dispersion of meteors in meteor streams, I. The size of the radiant areas, Bull. Astron. Inst. Czech., 21, 153–170.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1966. Supplementary catalogue of cometary orbits, Mem. Brit. Astron. Assoc, 40, No. 2, 19 pp.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1968. Comets and nongravitational forces, I, Astron. J., 73, 367–379.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1969a. Comets and nongravitational forces, II, Astron. J., 74, 720–734.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1969b. Elements and ephemerides, Minor Planet Circ., Nos. 3014-3016.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1970a. Comets and nongravitational forces, III, Astron. J., 75, 75–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1970b. On the relationship between comets and minor planets, Astron. J., 75, 206–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1970c. private communication.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. G., 1971. 1971 FA, Circ. Bur. Central Telegr. Astron., No. 2320.Google Scholar
McCrosky, R. E., 1968. Orbits of photographic meteors, in Physics and Dynamics of Meteors, edicted by Kresák, L. and Millman, P. M., D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, 265–279.Google Scholar
McCrosky, R. E., 1970. private communication.Google Scholar
McCrosky, R. E., and Ceplecha, Z., 1969. Photographic networks for fireballs, in Meteorite Research, edited by Millman, P. M., D Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, 600–612.Google Scholar
McCrosky, R. E., and Posen, A., 1961. Orbital elements of photographic meteors, Smithson. Contrib. Astrophys., 4, 15–84.Google Scholar
Narin, F., and Pierce, P. M., 1964. Perturbation, sighting and trajectory analysis for periodic comets, Illinois Research Inst. Astro Sci. Center, Rept. T-7, 107 pp.Google Scholar
Öpik, E. J., 1951. Collision probabilities with the planets and the distribution of interplanetary matter, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., 54A, 165–199.Google Scholar
Öpik, E. J., 1963. The stray bodies in the solar system, I. Survival of cometary nuclei and the asteroids, Advan. Astron. Astrophys., 2, 219–262.Google Scholar
Porter, J. G., 1961. Catalogue of cometary orbits, Mem. Brit. Astron. Assoc, 39, No. 3, 97 pp.Google Scholar
Schubart, J., 1968. Long-period effects in the motion of Hilda-type planets, Astron. J., 73, 99–103.Google Scholar
Southworth, R. B., and Hawkins, G. S., 1963. Statistics of meteor streams, Smithson. Contrib. Astrophys., 7, 261–285.Google Scholar
Stefanik, R. P., 1966. On thirteen split comets, Mém. Soc. Roy. Sci. Liège, 12/1, 29–32.Google Scholar
Van Houten, J. C., Van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Herget, P., and Gehrels, T., 1970. The Palomar-Leiden survey of faint minor planets, Advan. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl., 2, 339–448.Google Scholar
Vsekhsvyatsky, S. K., 1958. Fizicheskie kharakteristiki komet, Gos. Izdatel’stvo fiziko-mate-maticheskoj literatury, Moskva, 575 pp.Google Scholar
Whipple, F. L., 1951. A comet model II. Physical relations for comets and meteors, Astrophys. J., 113, 464–474.Google Scholar
Whipple, F. L., 1954. Photographic meteor orbits and their distribution in space, Astron. J., 59, 201–217.Google Scholar
Whipple, F. L., 1955. A comet model. III. The zodiacal light, Astrophys. J., 121, 750–770.Google Scholar
Whipple, F. L., 1973. Radial pressure in the solar nebula as affecting the motion of planetesimals, paper no. 38, this volume.Google Scholar