Meteor Showers with both Northern and Southern solutions
Authors:
L. Neslusan, T. J. Jopek, R. Rudawska, M. Hajdukova, G. Kokhirova
Image & caption:
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Image caption::
The radiant positions of all meteors in the region of sky where the radiants of the Northern and Southern Taurids are situated. The green curve shows the behavior of the ecliptic and the violet curve is the intersection of the orbital plane of Jupiter with the celestial sphere in the shown region of sky.
Description:
Meteoroids of a low-inclination stream hit the Earth arriving from a direction near the ecliptic. The radiant area of stream like this is often divided into two parts: one northward and the other southward of the ecliptic. Two showers are caused by such a stream. Examples of such showers are the Northern Taurids and Southern Taurids, or the Northern δ-Aquariids and Southern δ-Aquariids. While the meteoroids of the northern shower collide with the Earth in the descending node, those of the southern shower collide with our planet in the ascending node of their orbits. A definition of unique mean orbit of both showers is impossible. Because of this circumstance and tradition, the northern and southern showers must be distinguished despite the similar orbits of their meteoroids. Unfortunately, this is not always the case with meteor showers listed in the IAU Meteor Data Center (MDC). For the same shower, some authors reported a set of its mean parameters corresponding to the northern shower and other authors to the southern shower. We found eleven such cases in the MDC. We proposed corrections of these mis-identifications and, thus, significantly contributed to the improvement of the official list of meteor showers.
Reference:
Planetary and Space Science 235, art. no. 105737, p. 1-8 (2023)
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