Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets

This unique handbook
for astronomers explains how meteoroid streams originate from the decay of meteoroids, comets and asteroids, and how they cause meteor showers on Earth. It contains the findings of recent space missions to comets and asteroids, the impact risks associated with meteors, and their possible role in the origin of life on Earth. The author identifies all known meteor showers, accompanied by fascinating details on the most important showers and their parent comets, and also predicts when exceptional meteor showers will occur over the next 50 years.

Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets is a unique handbook for astronomers interested in observing meteor storms and outbursts. Spectacular displays of 'shooting stars' are created when the Earth's orbit crosses a meteoroid stream, as each meteoroid causes a bright light when it enters our atmosphere at high speed. Jenniskens, an active meteor storm chaser, explains how meteoroid streams originate from the decay of meteoroids, comets and asteroids, and how they cause meteor showers on Earth. He includes the findings of recent space missions to comets and asteroids, the risk of meteor impacts on Earth, and how meteor showers may have seeded the Earth with ingredients that made life possible. All known meteor showers are identified, accompanied by fascinating details on the most important showers and their parent comets. The book predicts when exceptional meteor showers will occur over the next fifty years, making it a valuable resource for both amateur and professional astronomers.

Part I. Introduction: 1. How meteor showers were linked to comets; 2. What is at the core of comets?; 3. The formation of meteoroid streams; 4. Meteors from meteoroid impacts in Earth; 5. Comet and meteoroid orbits in space and time; Part II. Parent Bodies: 6. Long period comets; 7. Halley-type comets; 8. Jupiter-family comets; 9. Fading comets of the inner solar system; 10. Asteroids; Part III. Young Streams from Whipple-type Ejection: 11. What planets do to dust trails; 12. Meteor storm chasing; 13. Meteor outbursts from long-period comets; 14. Trapped: the Leonid Filament; 15. The Leonid storms; 16. The Ursids; 17. The Perseids; 18. Other Halley-type comets; 19. Dust trails of Jupiter-family comets; Part IV. Young Streams from Comet Fragmentation: 20. Broken comets; 21. Quadrantids; 22. Geminids; 23. The sunskirting streams: Arietids and delta-Aquariids; 24. Alpha-Capricornids and kappa-Cygnids; 25. The Taurid complex; Part V. Old Streams and Sporadic Meteoroids: 26. Annual showers; 27. Dispersion from gradually evolving parent body orbits; 28. The ecliptic streams; 29. Toroidal streams; 30. Meteor showers from asteroids; 31. Sporadic meteors and the zodiacal cloud; Part VI. Impact and Relevance of Meteor Showers: 32. Impact!; 33. Meteor showers on other planets; 34. Meteors and the origin of life; Appendices.

This unique handbook for astronomers explains how meteoroid streams originate from the decay of meteoroids, comets and asteroids, and how they cause meteor showers on Earth. The author identifies all known meteor showers and also predicts when exceptional meteor showers will occur over the next 50 years.

Dr Peter Jenniskens is a professional astronomer and research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute.