An artificial meteor database as a test for the presence of weak showers

¹ Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, ul. Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warszawa, Poland e-mail: olech@camk.edu.pl
² Warsaw University Observatory Al.Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland e-mail: mwisniew@sirius.astrouw.edu.pl

Corresponding author: A. Olech, olech@camk.edu.pl

Received: 22 October 2001
Accepted: 7 January 2002

Abstract

We have constructed an artificial meteor database resembling in all details the real sample collected by the observers of the Comets and Meteors Workshop in the years 1996–1999. The artificial database includes the sporadic meteors and also events from the following showers: Perseids, Aquarid complex, α-Capricornids, July Pegasids and Sagittarids. This database was searched for the presence of the radiants of two weak showers: α-Cygnids and Delphinids. The lack of these radiants in the artificial database and their existence in the real observations suggests that α-Cygnids and Delphinids are real showers and their radiants could not be formed as an effect of intersections of back prolongated paths of meteors belonging to other showers.