The relationship between the semi-major axis, mass index and age of the Leonid meteor shower

Owing to sublimation of ice, comet nuclei eject dust particles when they are near to the sun. Those particles assume velocities and then vary their orbits to ones similar to that of the comet. The most notable difference between the orbit of the parent comet and those of the particles is their semi-major axes. This difference (Δ a ) has been widely used in modern meteor shower predictions. Observational evidence of the distribution showed that it is a function of Δ a , and the age of the dust trail. However, the relation is not well known. In this paper, a simplified relation between Δ a , the mass index ( s ) and the age of the dust trail is presented, taking the instance of a recent Leonid meteor shower.     

Meteor observations in Japan: new implications for a Taurid meteoroid swarm

Observational evidence is sought that the long-term (10⁴ yr) action of a mean motion resonance with Jupiter can produce structure in a meteoroid stream, concentrating meteoroids in a dense swarm. More specifically, predictions tabulated by Asher & Clube of enhanced meteor and fireball activity from a Taurid Complex swarm in the 7:2 resonance are compared with observational data collected in Japan over several decades. The swarm model was proposed for reasons independent of the observations analysed here, and these newly considered data are shown to be consistent with it. This allows increased confidence in the Taurid swarm theory, and more generally could mean that resonant trapping is a dynamical mechanism affecting a significant amount of meteoroidal material in the inner Solar system.     

An Alternative Explanation for a Screw-like Meteoric Train Photographed by Double-Station Observations

Two-station observation of meteors, especially a meteor trains, provides an effective approach to the measurement of the physical parameters. We have collected four special groups of photographs of meteoric trains taken at two stations during Leonids 2001. One representative group has been measured and analyzed in detail. An analysis has been reported in our first paper. In this paper, an alternative explanation for the screw-like meteoric train is suggested based on some physical calculations. The results reveal that this train has a screw-like structure and, apparently, spoke beams. The mother meteor of this train may be negatively charged and moves forward along a left-hand screw trajectory under the effect of the geomagnetic field. The spoke beams might be the visual effect of the long time exposure of many particles released from the disintegrated meteoroid.     

Cometary outbursts – the post-Deep Impact outlook on collisions as possible causes

The possibility of impacts between comets belonging to the Jupiter Family and other small bodies orbiting in the main asteroid belt, and the consequences in relation to cometary activity are discussed. The probability of such events and the jumps in cometary brightness caused by impacts are examined. The results are compared with the results of the Deep Impact mission to Comet 9P/Tempel 1. The main conclusion of this paper is in agreement with previous findings, namely that an impact mechanism cannot be the main cause of the outburst activity of comets.     

Meteoric activities during the 11th century

We have analysed the meteor records in the chronicles that describe the era of the Song dynasty ( ad 960–1279). The data are complementary to the record-vacant 10th century of the Koryo dynasty ( ad 918–1392). The annual activity of sporadic meteors analysed shows a generic sinusoidal behaviour as in modern observations. In addition, we have also found that there are two prominent meteor showers, one in August and the other in November, appearing on the fluctuating sporadic meteors. The date of occurrence of the August shower indicates it to be the Perseids. By comparing the date of occurrence of the November shower with those of the Leonid showers of the Koryo dynasty, recent visual observations and the world-wide historical meteor storms, we conclude that the November shower is the Leonids. The regression rate of the Leonids is obtained to be     days per century, which agrees with recent observations.     

Annual variation of sporadic radar meteor rates

The activity of sporadic meteors has been measured from 2002 to 2005 with the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar. Single-station data at 29.85 MHz have been used to find the positions of the five sporadic sources visible from the Northern hemisphere, and the activity measured for each source has been corrected for observing biases. Relative fluxes and the annual variation of each source are well determined. The variations in activity are of great interest in determining the history and origin of the sporadic meteoroid population.