彗星的喷发速度

彗星的喷发速度在流星群的演化过程中起着重要作用。本文简述了 (1 )流星群轨道升交点的变化和周期的变化都与喷发速度密切相关 ,(2 )从流星雨的观测结果可推断出喷发速度 ,(3)喷发速度的理论模型和结果。     

英仙座流星群观测记

英仙座流星群观测记林启生１９９３年８月１３日凌晨，我与几位朋友一起相约到标高约２３００米的翠峰，观测英仙座流星群的出现。安排行动身为一位天文爱好者，哪有放过观测英仙座流星群的理由呢！早在８月上旬，我就盘算如何观测和拍摄英仙座流星群。我为了让暑假留在台...     

2005年5月重要天象预告

5月6日室瓶座η流星雨极盛宝瓶座η流星雨是与哈雷彗星有关的流星雨。哈雷彗星在运行到太阳附近时在其运行轨道上撒落大量流星体粒子。宝瓶座η流星群是哈雷彗星的流星群中的一个,每年4月下旬到5月下旬期间,宝瓶座流星群粒子进入地球大气     

太阳质量损失对流星群轨道改变的长期影响

将作者在变质量天体力学所得理论结果应用于太阳质量损失对流星群轨道根数变化的长期效应上。太阳质量损失包括光子辐射和太阳风造成的质量损失。利用G—M型变质量天体轨道根数变化方程的一阶和二阶解对15个流星群轨道半长轴、近日点距离、轨道周期和近日点经度因太阳质量损失造成的每世纪的长期改变效应做了数值计算,并得出计算结果。其计算结果表明,太阳质量损失使流星群轨道半长轴每世纪的改变效应较明显,它们同太阳距离的扩大影响值得关注,但对轨道周期的拉长每世纪的影响甚小,对近日点经度只有量级变化小到可以略而不计。     

猎户流星群等分布因子r的测定

本文利用我国1984-1990年猎户流星雨的目视观测资料,测定猎户流星群的星等分布因子r,所得结论与国外结果一致。     

1998～2000年狮子座流星雨的预报和观测

"1998年狮子座流星雨可能是暴雨,最佳观测地在东亚"的预报,客观上加速了中国对流星雨的现代研究。几年来,对狮子座流星雨的观测和研究,是在全国狮子座流星雨联测小组的组织和领导下发展起来的。这包括使用目视方法、照相方法和无线电方法的观测,以及组织广大天文爱好者在全国范围内的观测。我们的确也观测到了很多重要的现象,如流星雨的纤维结构、尺度分布和质量密度分布的变化等等。我们发展了数据处理方法,将处理其它天文观测数据的"时间窗"方法移植到了流星雨的数据处理中。这一方法如今在流星雨研究中已经在世界上普遍使用了。我们还提出了流星雨的质量流参量ZHMR,它对于今后流星雨的观测比较和预报可能更加有用。在雷达观测方面,我们观测到了1998年所期待的流星雨强度主峰。在此主峰过了大约18h之后,又观测到了地球电离层的反常爆发。从1998年连续两天狮子座流星雨不同的表现,以及从全国不同地区的观测得到的流星质量分布系数的差异,我们提出了大、小2种不同粒子的混合流模型,很好地解释了观测到的现象。从天体力学的基本公式出发,我们发现流星群轨道升交点和其母彗星轨道升交点之差,不仅与当时的抛射速度,而且与彗星抛出这些尘埃粒子时在轨道上的位置有关。对于1998年的观测,最可能的是这些粒子是     

中国古代流星雨记录

引言从十八世纪发现流星群与彗星的关系以来,研究流星群特别是其辐射点位置来探索太阳系起源问题的途径,巳逐渐引起人们的注意。近年来,彗星与小行星的关系、彗核结构和流星群的关系、以至星际吸光、高层大气结构与流星的关系等问题,更引起天文学界的重视。但是由于流星群毕竟不常出现,有些需要几十以至几百年才回归一次,有些现在可能已完全“失踪”,因此,借助于历史资料来协助研究就成为重要的事。中国古代流星雨记录很早就受到人们的注意,我国朱文鑫、陈遵妫及国外不少     

1998年德令哈狮子座流星雨目视观测及初步分析

根据中国－荷兰狮子座流星雨合观测1998年11月13日至18是日在紫金山天文台德令哈观测站观测所得的数据，以及同期中国其他地方的观测数据，分析了1998年狮子座流星雨的分布特征，提出此次地球所遭遇的流星群带呈3层结构。     

1998～2000年狮子座流星雨的预报和观测

“1998年狮子座流星雨可能是暴雨，最佳观测地在东亚”的预报，客观上加速了中国对流星雨的现代研究。几年来，对狮子座流星雨的观测和研究，是在全国狮子座流星雨联测小组的组织和领导下发展起来的。这包括使用目视方法、照相方法和无线电方法的观测，以及组织广大天文爱好者在全国范围内的观测。我们的确也观测到了很多重要的现象，如流星雨的纤维结构、尺度分布和质量密度分布的变化等等。我们发展了数据处理方法，将处理其它天文观测数据的“时间窗”方法移植到了流星雨的数据处理中。这一方法如今在流星雨研究中已经在世界上普遍使用了。我们还提出了流星雨的质量流参量ZHMR，它对于今后流星雨的观测比较和预报可能更加有用。在雷达观测方面，我们观测到了1998年所期待的流星雨强度主峰。在此主峰过了大约18h之后，又观测到了地球电离层的反常爆发。从1998年连续两天狮子座流星雨不同的表现，以及从全国不同地区的观测得到的流星质量分布系数的差异，我们提出了大、小2种不同粒子的混合流模型，很好地解释了观测到的现象。从天体力学的基本公式出发，我们发现流星群轨道升交点和其母彗星轨道升交点之差，不仅与当时的抛射速度，而且与彗星抛出这些尘埃粒子时在轨道上的位置有关。对于1998年的观测，最可能的是这些粒子是彗星在1933年回归的时候、在距离太阳1．44A．U．距离的时候抛射出来的。按照传统的统计图分析方法，我们还对1999—2001年的狮子座流星雨强度进行了预报。事实证明，我们对1999和2000年的预报的准确性还是很高的。此外，我们还在狮子座流星雨的照相观测、轨道计算以及其它方面做了一些工作，本文仪仅是对我们所做的一些主要工作进行了一个小结。     

我国天文爱好者发现新流星群

北京80中学高二学生孟奂在2001年观测狮子座流星雨时,发现北天有很多偶发流星,通过与自己1998年和1999年所绘的观测图进行比较,有36颗流星惊人地来自同一个辐射点,这说明很可能存在一个新流星群。为了进一步求证,孟奂登陆北美流星协会和国际流星协会组织,以及国内的天文网站,向世界各地流星观测者求助。最后经过对全球反馈回来的信     

Meteor Showers Associated with the Taurid Complex Asteroids

Recent theoretical and observational work has shown that the asteroids belonging to the Taurid meteoroid complex have a cometary nature. If so, then they might possess related meteoroid streams producing meteor showers in the Earth atmosphere. We studied the orbital evolution of ten numbered Taurid complex asteroids by the Halphen-Goryachev method. It turned out that all of these asteroids are quadruple crossers relative to the Earth's orbit. Therefore their proposed meteoroid streams may in theory each produce four meteor showers. The theoretical orbital elements and geocentric radiants of these showers are determined and compared with the available observational data. The existence of the predicted forty meteor showers of the ten Taurid complex asteroids is confirmed by a search of the published catalogues of observed meteor shower radiants and orbits, and of the archives of the IAU Meteor Data Center (Lund). The existence of meteor showers associated with the Taurid Complex Asteroids confirms that, most likely, these asteroids are extinct comets. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Decoherence time scales for “meteoroid streams”

Abstract— We explore the orbital dynamics of Earth‐crossing objects with the intent to understand the time scales under which an “orbital stream” of material could produce time‐correlated meteorite falls. These “meteoroid streams” have been suggested to be associated with three well‐known meteorite‐dropping fireballs (Innisfree, Peekskill, and P?íbram). We have performed two different analyses of the statistical significance of the “orbital similarity,” in particular calculating how often orbits of the same level of similarity would come from a random sample. Secondly, we have performed extremely detailed numerical integrations related to these three cases, and we find that if they were streams of objects in similar orbits, then they would become “decoherent” (in the sense that the day‐of‐fall of meteorites of these streams become almost random) on time scales of 10⁴–10⁵ yr. Thus, an extremely recent breakup would be required, much more recent that the cosmic ray exposure ages of the recovered falls in each case. We conclude that orbital destruction is too efficient to allow the existence of long‐lived meteoroid streams and that the statistical evidence for such streams is insufficient; random fall patterns show comparable levels of clustering.     

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.     

Lunar Gravitational Focusing of Meteoroid Streams and Sporadic Sources

Recent work on the gravitational focusing of meteoroid streams and their threat to satellites and astronauts in the near-Earth environment has concentrated on Earth acting as the gravitational attractor, totally ignoring the Moon. Though the Moon is twelve-thousandths the mass of the Earth, it too can focus meteors, albeit at a much greater distance downstream from its orbital position in space. At the Earth–Moon distance during particular phases of the Moon, slower speed meteoroid streams with very compact radiant diameters can show meteoroid flux enhancements in Earth’s immediate neighborhood. When the right geometric alignment occurs, this arises as a narrowed beam of particles of approximately 1,000 km width. For a narrow radiant of one-tenth degree diameter there is a 10-fold increase in the level of flux passing through the near-Earth environment. Meteoroid streams with more typical radiant sizes of 1° show at most two times enhancement. For sporadic sources, the enhancement is found to be insignificant due to the wide angular spread of the diffuse radiant and thus may be considered of little importance.     

Orbital dispersion of comet Encke's meteoroids

The orbital evolution of model meteoroids ejected from the comet Encke has been investigated. The particles abandon the mother body with velocities 20 and 40 ms^-1 perihelion within the interval of the past 10,000 years. Their 10,000 years old osculating orbits were numerically integrated forward, using a dynamical model of the solar system consisting of all planets. Forces from solar electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation effecting the particles are considered, too. Orbital dispersions of the model meteoroids are presented. The importance of nongravitational forces for a long-term orbital evolution of meteoroid streams is shown.     

Asteroid 2002NY40 as a source of meteorite-dropping bolides

The existence of asteroidal meteoroid streams capable of producing meteorite-dropping bolides has long being invoked, but evidence is scarce. Recent modelling of previously reported associations suggests that the time-scales to keep the orbital coherence of these streams producing meteorites are too short. We present an unequivocal association between near earth object (NEO) 2002NY40 and at least one bright fireball detected over Finland in 2006 August. Another two additional fireballs recorded from Spain and Finland seem to be related, together producing a fireball-producing stream (β Aquarids). On the basis of historical data, the 2006 finding suggests the existence of a meteoroid complex capable of producing meteorites. Taking into account present time-scales for orbital decoherence, if 2002NY40 has large meteoroids associated with it, such behaviour would be the consequence of a relatively recent asteroidal fragmentation. Supporting our claim, the heliocentric orbits of two recently discovered NEOs, 2004NL8 and 2002NY40, were found to exhibit a good similarity to each other and also to the orbits of the three bolides. The fireball spectra of the two Finish bolides showed that the chemical abundances of these objects are consistent with the main elements found in chondrites. This result is consistent with the probable Low iron, Low metal (LL) chondritic mineralogy of asteroid 2002NY40. Consequently, this asteroid may be delivering LL chondrites to the Earth. Additional fireball reports found in the literature suggest that the associated β Aquarid complex may have been delivering meteorites to the Earth during, at least, the last millennium.     

Venus-intercepting meteoroid streams

This study is motivated by the possibility of determining the large-body meteoroid flux at the orbit of Venus. Towards this end, we attempt to estimate the times at which enhanced meteoric activity might be observed in the planet's atmosphere. While a number of meteoroid streams are identified as satisfying common Earth and Venus intercept conditions, it is not clear from the Earth-observed data if these streams contain large-body meteoroids. A subset of the Taurid Complex objects may produce fireball-rich meteor showers on Venus. A total of 11 short-period, periodic comets and 46 near-Earth asteroids approach the orbit of Venus to within 0.1 au, and these objects may have associated meteoroid streams. Comets 27P/Crommelin and 7P/Pons–Winnecke are identified as candidate parents to possible periodic meteor showers at the orbit of Venus.     

Associations Between Asteroids and Meteoroid Streams

The recent systematic monitoring of the skies has led to the discovery of an increasingly large number of objects on Earth approaching orbits. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of this population have also been associated with meteoroid streams in the literature. We will review the history of this topic. We have also conducted our own search for asteroids moving on orbits that are similar to the orbits of known fireball streams. As NEOs are moving in prograde orbits with low geocentric velocities, any potential streams will have large radiant areas and in consequence, may have been identified as several "sub-streams". This greatly hampers both their detection and their recognition as single meteoroid streams. With the large number of Near Earth Asteroids detected, the probability of two orbits being similar at the present time by coincidence is high. We have therefore also investigated the evolution of the orbits and only include as real asteroid-stream pairs those where the evolution is also similar over 5000 years. We have identified nine pairs, including the well known pair of the Geminid meteoroid stream and asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Currently there are a number of papers being published on the pairing of asteroid 2003 EH1 and the Quadrantid meteoroid stream. Because of the newness of the research and the fact that this is a high inclination pair, we have excluded this pair from our discussions.     

Meteor streams associated with Jupiter family comets

Meteor showers have been observed for a considerable time, and the cause, meteoroids from a meteoroid stream ablating in the Earth's atmosphere, has also been understood for centuries. The connection between meteoroid streams and comets was also established 150 years ago. Since that time our ability both to understand the physics and to numerically model the situation has steadily increased. We will review the current state of knowledge. However, just as there are differences between the behaviour of long period comets, Halley family comets and Jupiter family comets, so also differences exist between the associated meteoroid streams. Streams associated with Jupiter family comets show much more variety in their behaviour, driven by the gravitational perturbations from Jupiter. The more interesting showers associated with Jupiter family comets will be discussed individually.     

The orbit of the Kappa Cygnid and related meteor streams

A study of the Kappa Cygnid and other minor streams of the August epoch is presented based on a computer search in a sample of 3518 photographic meteoroid orbits. Four different meteoroid streams with radiants in Cygnus, Draco and Lyra, were found. Three of these: the Kappa Cygnids, the Alpha Lyrids and the Zeta Draconids are identified with meteor showers reported by nineteenth century visual observers. The fourth stream, the August Lyrids, consists of six meteors with radiants in Lyra centered on = 277°.6, = 46°.2. No previous visual reports of this stream have been found. It is interesting to note that all four meteoroid streams are coincident in time; their orbits are all of short period and they all have very nearly the same orientation of semi-major axis.