The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits
Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) contribute a significant amount of debris to near-Earth space. However, telescopic observations of these objects seem to suggest that they have short physical lifetimes. If this is true, the material generated will also be short-lived, but fireball observation networks s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/abde4b http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90261 |
| _version_ | 1848765358868004864 |
|---|---|
| author | Shober, Patrick M. Sansom, Eleanor Bland, Phil Devillepoix, Hadrien Towner, Martin Cupak, Martin Howie, Robert Hartig, Benjamin Anderson, S.L. |
| author_facet | Shober, Patrick M. Sansom, Eleanor Bland, Phil Devillepoix, Hadrien Towner, Martin Cupak, Martin Howie, Robert Hartig, Benjamin Anderson, S.L. |
| author_sort | Shober, Patrick M. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) contribute a significant amount of debris to near-Earth space. However, telescopic observations of these objects seem to suggest that they have short physical lifetimes. If this is true, the material generated will also be short-lived, but fireball observation networks still detect material on cometary orbits. This study examines centimeter-to-meter-scale sporadic meteoroids detected by the Desert Fireball Network from 2014 to 2020 originating from JFC-like orbits. Analyzing each event's dynamic history and physical characteristics, we confidently determined whether they originated from the main asteroid belt or the trans-Neptunian region. Our results indicate that <4% of sporadic meteoroids on JFC-like orbits are genetically cometary. This observation is statistically significant and shows that cometary material is too friable to survive in near-Earth space. Even when considering shower contributions, meteoroids on JFC-like orbits are primarily from the main belt. Thus, the presence of genuine cometary meteorites in terrestrial collections is highly unlikely. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:33:59Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90261 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:33:59Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-902612023-02-24T07:26:12Z The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits Shober, Patrick M. Sansom, Eleanor Bland, Phil Devillepoix, Hadrien Towner, Martin Cupak, Martin Howie, Robert Hartig, Benjamin Anderson, S.L. astro-ph.EP astro-ph.EP Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) contribute a significant amount of debris to near-Earth space. However, telescopic observations of these objects seem to suggest that they have short physical lifetimes. If this is true, the material generated will also be short-lived, but fireball observation networks still detect material on cometary orbits. This study examines centimeter-to-meter-scale sporadic meteoroids detected by the Desert Fireball Network from 2014 to 2020 originating from JFC-like orbits. Analyzing each event's dynamic history and physical characteristics, we confidently determined whether they originated from the main asteroid belt or the trans-Neptunian region. Our results indicate that <4% of sporadic meteoroids on JFC-like orbits are genetically cometary. This observation is statistically significant and shows that cometary material is too friable to survive in near-Earth space. Even when considering shower contributions, meteoroids on JFC-like orbits are primarily from the main belt. Thus, the presence of genuine cometary meteorites in terrestrial collections is highly unlikely. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90261 10.3847/PSJ/abde4b http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/abde4b http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170102529 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | astro-ph.EP astro-ph.EP Shober, Patrick M. Sansom, Eleanor Bland, Phil Devillepoix, Hadrien Towner, Martin Cupak, Martin Howie, Robert Hartig, Benjamin Anderson, S.L. The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| title | The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| title_full | The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| title_fullStr | The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| title_full_unstemmed | The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| title_short | The main asteroid belt: The primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| title_sort | main asteroid belt: the primary source of debris on comet-like orbits |
| topic | astro-ph.EP astro-ph.EP |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/abde4b http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/abde4b http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90261 |