Title: When Comets Get Old: A Synthesis of Comet and Meteor Observations of the Low Activity Comet 209P/LINEAR Author: Quan-Zhi Ye, Man-To Hui, Peter G. Brown, Margaret D. Campbell-Brown, Petr Pokorný, Paul A. Wiegert, Xing Gao
It is speculated that some weakly active comets may be transitional objects between active and dormant comets. These objects are at a unique stage of the evolution of cometary nuclei, as they are still identifiable as active comets, in contrast to inactive comets that are observationally indistinguishable from low albedo asteroids. In this paper, we present a synthesis of comet and meteor observations of Jupiter-family comet 209P/LINEAR, one of the most weakly active comets recorded to-date. Images taken by the Xingming 0.35-m telescope and the Gemini Flamingo-2 camera are modelled by a Monte Carlo dust model, which yields a low dust ejection speed (1/10 of that of moderately active comets), dominance of large dust grains, and a low dust production of 0.4 kg s-1 at 19~d after the 2014 perihelion passage. We also find a reddish nucleus of 209P/LINEAR that is similar to D-type asteroids and most Trojan asteroids. Meteor observations with the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR), coupled with meteoroid stream modelling, suggest a low dust production of the parent over the past few hundred orbits, although there are hints of a some temporary increase in activity in the 18th century. Dynamical simulations indicate 209P/LINEAR may have resided in a stable near-Earth orbit for ~104~yr, which is significantly longer than typical JFCs. All these lines of evidence imply that 209P/LINEAR as an aging comet quietly exhausting its remaining near surface volatiles. We also compare 209P/LINEAR to other low activity comets, where evidence for a diversity of the origin of low activity is seen.
Comet 209P/LINEAR will make a close pass (21.6 lunar distances, 0.0555 AU), travelling at 16.97 km/second, to the Earth-Moon system on the 29th May 2014 @ 07:51 UT ±00:01.
On 29 May 2014 the comet will pass 0.0554 AU (8,290,000 km; 5,150,000 mi) from Earth, but is only expected to brighten to about apparent magnitude 11. Read more
Step outside and take a look at the skies on the evening of May 23 into the early morning of May 24. Scientists are anticipating a new meteor shower, the May Camelopardalids. No one has seen it before, but the shower could put on a show that would rival the prolific Perseid meteor shower in August. The Camelopardalids shower would be dust resulting from a periodic comet, 209P/LINEAR. Read more
Stargazers in Oman may be treated with a rare meteor showers on May 23 night as Earth passes through the tail of a comet. Speaking to Times of Oman, Mohammed Yahya Al Hijri, resident-foreign affairs, Oman Astronomical Society, said residents can see as many as 1,000 shooting stars per hour between 10pm and 5am. Read more
Because of the way the comet (first discovered in 2004) and its orbit were oriented, it (and the dusty debris surrounding it) didnt come close to Earth. But this year will different; in 2012, it passed close by to Jupiter, which changed its orbit slightly. For the first time in history, this comet will pass within just 5 million miles (8 million km) of Earth on May 29th. Along with it, its expected that a large fraction of the dusty debris in that elliptical orbit will pass near Earth as well Read more
Title: Will Comet 209P/LINEAR Generate the Next Meteor Storm? Authors: Quanzhi Ye, Paul A. Wiegert
Previous studies have suggested that Comet 209P/LINEAR may produce strong meteor activity on Earth on 2014 May 24; however, exact timing and activity level is difficult to estimate due to the limited physical observations of the comet. Here we re-analyse the optical observations of 209P/LINEAR obtained during its 2009 apparition. We find that the comet is relatively depleted in dust production, with Af {rho} at 1 cm level within eight months around its perihelion. This feature suggested that this comet may be currently transitioning from typical comet to a dormant comet. Syndyne simulation shows that the optical cometary tail is dominated by larger particles with {\beta} ~ 0.003. Numerical simulations of the cometary dust trails confirm the arrival of particles on 2014 May 24 from some of the 1798-1979 trails. The nominal radiant is at RA 122 ± 1 deg, Dec 79 ± 1 deg (J2000) in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Given that the comet is found to be depleted in dust production, we concluded that a meteor storm (ZHR>=1000) may be unlikely. However, our simulation also shows that the size distribution of the arrived particles is skewed strongly to larger particles. Coupling with the result of syndyne simulation, we think that the event, if detectable, may be dominated by bright meteors. We encourage observers to monitor the expected meteor event as it will provide us with rare direct information on the dynamical history of 209P/LINEAR which is otherwise irretrievably lost.