TY - JOUR
T1 - Observations of the new Camelopardalids meteor shower using a 38.9MHz radar at Mohe, China
AU - Younger, J. P.
AU - Reid, I. M.
AU - Li, G.
AU - Ning, B.
AU - Hu, L.
PY - 2015/6
Y1 - 2015/6
N2 - The Camelopardalids meteor shower was predicted to occur for the first time on 24 May 2014, based on optical observations of the comet 209P/LINEAR. Using a 38.9MHz meteor radar located at Mohe, China, we were able to detect approximately 590 shower meteors originating from an average pre-infall radiant of R.A.=129.1°±9.8°, declination=79.4°±1.6° (J2000) with a geocentric velocity of 16.0±1.6kms-1. Measurements of the shower duration, direction, velocity, and individual meteor detection heights facilitated a detailed analysis of the parent debris stream. Orbital parameters were calculated including a semi-major axis of 2.86AU, eccentricity of 0.659, and inclination of 21.1°. Combining orbital parameters with the shower activity duration FWHM of 5.09h, it was found that the stream has a FWHM of at least 211,000km at 1AU, as measured perpendicular to the direction of orbital motion. A comparison of shower meteor detection heights and diffusion coefficient estimates with the sporadic background is consistent the prediction of Ye and Wiegert (Ye, Q., Wiegert, P. [2014]. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 3283-3287) that Camelopardalid meteoroids are biased towards larger sizes or that Cameloppardalid meteoroids are less fragile than sporadic background meteoroids.
AB - The Camelopardalids meteor shower was predicted to occur for the first time on 24 May 2014, based on optical observations of the comet 209P/LINEAR. Using a 38.9MHz meteor radar located at Mohe, China, we were able to detect approximately 590 shower meteors originating from an average pre-infall radiant of R.A.=129.1°±9.8°, declination=79.4°±1.6° (J2000) with a geocentric velocity of 16.0±1.6kms-1. Measurements of the shower duration, direction, velocity, and individual meteor detection heights facilitated a detailed analysis of the parent debris stream. Orbital parameters were calculated including a semi-major axis of 2.86AU, eccentricity of 0.659, and inclination of 21.1°. Combining orbital parameters with the shower activity duration FWHM of 5.09h, it was found that the stream has a FWHM of at least 211,000km at 1AU, as measured perpendicular to the direction of orbital motion. A comparison of shower meteor detection heights and diffusion coefficient estimates with the sporadic background is consistent the prediction of Ye and Wiegert (Ye, Q., Wiegert, P. [2014]. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 3283-3287) that Camelopardalid meteoroids are biased towards larger sizes or that Cameloppardalid meteoroids are less fragile than sporadic background meteoroids.
KW - Comets, dust
KW - Data reduction techniques
KW - Meteors
KW - Orbit determination
KW - Radar observations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84924987428&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.icarus.2015.02.021
DO - 10.1016/j.icarus.2015.02.021
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84924987428
SN - 0019-1035
VL - 253
SP - 25
EP - 30
JO - ICARUS
JF - ICARUS
ER -