Issue |
A&A
Volume 626, June 2019
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A25 | |
Number of page(s) | 9 | |
Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834867 | |
Published online | 07 June 2019 |
Characterisation of the Perseid meteoroid stream through SPOSH observations between 2010–2016
1
Department of Planetary Geodesy, Technische Universität Berlin,
Strasse des 17. Juni 135,
Berlin,
Germany
e-mail: anastasios.margonis@tu-berlin.de
2
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium,
College Hill,
Armagh
BT61 9DG,
UK
3
German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research,
Rutherfordstr. 2,
12489
Berlin,
Germany
Received:
14
December
2018
Accepted:
30
March
2019
We have characterised the Perseid meteoroid stream from data acquired in a series of observing campaigns between 2010 and 2016. The data presented in this work were obtained by the Smart Panoramic Optical Sensor Head (SPOSH), an all-sky camera system designed to image faint transient noctilucent phenomena on dark planetary hemispheres. For the data reduction, a sophisticated software package was developed that utilises the high geometric and photometric quality of images obtained by the camera system. We identify 934 meteors as Perseids, observed over a long period between late July (~124°) and mid-to-late August (~147°). The maximum meteor activity contributing to the annual shower was found at λ⊙ = 140°.08 ± 0°.07. The radiant of the shower was estimated at RA = 47°.2 and Dec = 57°.5 with a median error of 0°.6 and 0°.2, respectively. The mean population index of the shower between solar longitudes of 120°.68 and 145°.19 was r = 2.36 ± 0.05, showing strong temporal variation. A predicted outburst in shower activity for the night of August 11–12, 2016 was confirmed, with a peak observed 12.75 hr before the annual maximum at 23:30 ± 15′ UT. We measure a peak flux of 6.1 × 10−4 km−2 hr−1 for meteoroids of mass 1.6 × 10−2 g or more, appearing in the time period between 23:00 and 00:00 UT. We estimate the measured flux of the outburst meteoroids to be approximately twice as high as the annual meteoroid flux of the same mass. The population index of r = 2.19 ± 0.08, computed from the outburst Perseids in 2016, is higher than the value of r = 1.92 ± 0.06 derived from meteors observed in 2015 belonging to the annual Perseid shower which was active near the time of the outburst. A dust trail with an unusually high population index of r = 3.58 ± 0.24 was encountered in 2013 between solar longitudes 136°.261 and 137°.442. The relatively high r-value implies an encounter with a dust trail rich in low-mass particles.
Key words: meteorites, meteors, meteoroids / methods: observational / techniques: image processing / methods: data analysis / comets: individual: 109P
© ESO 2019
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