Linking a fireball to its likely parent near earth object by means of orbital analysis software tools

Abstract

The identification of their progenitor bodies is crucial to increase our knowledge on the origin and evolution of meteoroid streams. Traditionally, the similarity between two orbits has been used to link a given meteoroid stream with a potential parent body. This similarity was first expressed in terms of the so-called D-criterion, which was originally proposed by Southworth and Hawkins [1]. Alternative versions of this criterion have been proposed by other authors [2-5]. In order to establish a relationship between the orbit of the meteoroids and that of their potential parent bodies, the availability of precise orbital parameters is fundamental. Due to the chance of finding wrong parent body candidates, it is also crucial to integrate the orbits of the bodies backwards in time to analyze the evolution of these criteria and to establish real (not casual) connections [6]. In this work we analyze a double-station fireball imaged in the framework of the SPanish Meteor Network (SPMN). By using the Mercury 6 symplectic integrator [7] and orbital association software developed by us [8], we have identified a NEO as the progenitor body of the parent meteoroid.