Possible Interstellar meteoroids detected by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar

TL;DR

This study analyzes 7.5 years of Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar data to identify potential interstellar meteoroids, applying new correction algorithms and estimating their flux at Earth, with implications for detecting interstellar objects like 'Oumuamua.

Contribution

Introduces a new atmospheric deceleration correction algorithm and provides the first estimate of interstellar meteoroid flux based on radar data.

Findings

Identified five candidate interstellar meteoroids with >3σ significance.

Estimated interstellar meteoroid flux at Earth as at least 6.6×10⁻⁷ meteoroids/km²/hr.

Simulated detection of 'Oumuamua-associated meteoroid stream at 1.8σ significance.

Abstract

We examine meteoroid orbits recorded by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) from 2012-2019, consisting of just over 11 million orbits in a search for potential interstellar meteoroids. Our 7.5 year survey consists of an integrated time-area product of $\sim$ 7$\times$ 10$^6$ km$^2$ hours. Selecting just over 160000 six station meteor echoes having the highest measured velocity accuracy from within our sample, we found five candidate interstellar events. These five potential interstellar meteoroids were found to be hyperbolic at the 2$\sigma$-level using only their raw measured speed. Applying a new atmospheric deceleration correction algorithm developed for CMOR, we show that all five candidate events were likely hyperbolic at better than 3$\sigma$, the most significant being a 3.7$\sigma$ detection. Assuming all five detections are true interstellar meteoroids, we estimate the interstellar meteoroid flux at Earth to be at least 6.6 $\times$ 10$^{-7}$ meteoroids/km$^{2}$/hr appropriate to a mass of 2 $\times$ 10$^{-7}$kg. Using estimated measurement uncertainties directly extracted from CMOR data, we simulated CMOR's ability to detect a hypothetical 'Oumuamua - associated hyperbolic meteoroid stream. Such a stream was found to be significant at the 1.8$\sigma$ level, suggesting that CMOR would likely detect such a stream of meteoroids as hyperbolic. We also show that CMOR's sensitivity to interstellar meteoroid detection is directionally dependent.