The age of the Orionid meteoroid stream
Open Access
- 1 May 1989
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Vol. 238 (1) , 179-191
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/238.1.179
Abstract
The age of the Orionid meteoroid stream is estimated from the ratio of the mass of the stream to that of Halley's comet. A number of measurements spanning a range of about 5 visual magnitudes of the flux of meteoroids from radar, low-light-level TV and visual observations of the Orionid meteor shower have been used to determine the cumulative zenithal flux as a function of meteoroid mass. The different sets of observational data show a high degree of consistency. We have combined the flux data with McIntosh & Hajduk's ribbon model of the stream to get a measure of the total mass of dust ejected by the comet. Comparison of this figure with the observations of Comet P/Halley from space probes indicates that the age of the stream lies in the range 2.5 × 103 to 6.2 × 104 yr with the most probable age being 2.3 × 104 yr. Our value for the stream age agrees well with that extrapolated by Yeomans (1986) for the time of the last close approach of Comet P/Halley to Jupiter.Keywords
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