A new meteor shower from comet 46P/Wirtanen expected in December 2023
Context. Comet 46P/Wirtanen is a near-Earth object (NEO) for which no associated meteor shower has ever been reported. Aims. This study is aimed at improving our understanding of why there has been no observed shower activity for this NEO to date, as well as to consider whether any past activity cou...
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Zusammenfassung: | Context. Comet 46P/Wirtanen is a near-Earth object (NEO) for which no
associated meteor shower has ever been reported. Aims. This study is aimed at
improving our understanding of why there has been no observed shower activity
for this NEO to date, as well as to consider whether any past activity could be
uncovered from the post-prediction results. Methods. The usual dynamic tools
for meteoroid streams were used to describe the behavior of the particles
ejected by the comet. The resulting modeled meteoroid stream was thoroughly
inspected for collisions between the stream and the Earth. Results. The results
show a possible encounter forecast for December 12, 2023, between 8:00 and
12:30 UT. The slow entry velocity is typically known to cause dim meteors. The
activity level of the shower is highly uncertain due to the absence of reported
past showers. Conclusions. Overall, the most optimal observations on the
forecasted day would be achieved from Eastern Australia, New Zealand, and
Oceania. These observations will help constrain the size distribution of
meteoroids from comet 46P/Wirtanen in the millimeter range. |
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DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.2312.02636 |