Meteor showers of comet C/1917 F1 Mellish

TL;DR

This study analyzes meteor showers December Monocerotids and November Orionids, suggesting a common origin from comet C/1917 F1 Mellish based on orbital data, physical properties, and activity patterns.

Contribution

It provides new evidence linking these meteor showers to comet C/1917 F1 Mellish and estimates the meteoroid ejection velocities involved.

Findings

Shared orbital characteristics suggest common origin.

December Monocerotids are likely younger than November Orionids.

Ejection velocities at perihelion exceed 100 m/s.

Abstract

December Monocerotids and November Orionids are weak but established annual meteor showers active throughout November and December. Analysis of a high quality orbits subset of the SonotaCo video meteor database shows that the distribution of orbital elements, geocentric velocity and also the orbital evolution of the meteors and potential parent body may imply a common origin for these meteors coming from the parent comet C/1917 F1 Mellish. This is also confirmed by the physical properties and activity of these shower meteors. An assumed release of meteoroids at the perihelion of the comet in the past and the sky-plane radiant distribution reveal that the December Monocerotid stream might be younger than the November Orionids. A meteoroid transversal component of ejection velocity at the perihelion must be larger than 100 m/s. A few authors have also associated December Canis Minorids with the comet C/1917 F1 Mellish. However, we did not find any connection.