The dispersal of the Geminid meteoroid stream by radiative effects

Abstract

The perturbative forces acting upon meteoroids in the Geminid stream caused by the solar radiation field are investigated: these forces arethose due to radiation pressure, the Poynting-Robertson effect, and theYarkovsky-Radzievskii effect. It is shown that, for reasonable values ofthe rotation rate and the physical properties of these meteoroids, theobserved features of the Geminid meteor shower are explicable withoutresort to planetary perturbations or indeed any other influence such ashigh-speed ejection from the parent body. Two implications of this arethat (1) the spin rate of meteoroids can be estimated from the durationof this meteor shower; and (2) there is no requirement from observationsof meteor showers for high-speed ejection of meteoroids from comets.