A limit on the mass of the Taurid Resonant Swarm at sub-100 meter sizes

TL;DR

This study used deep telescope observations to set an upper limit on the number of small bodies in the Taurid Resonant Swarm, suggesting it does not contain an unusually large mass at sub-100 meter sizes.

Contribution

First direct observational upper limit on the number of sub-100 meter Taurid Swarm objects, constraining its total mass and size distribution.

Findings

Fewer than 30,000 objects down to 34-76 m in size at 95% confidence

No definitive Taurid Swarm members detected in the survey

Results imply the swarm's mass at 100 m sizes is not unusually large

Abstract

We report on a pencil-beam survey of the Taurid Swarm, a possible concentration of bodies in the Taurid meteoroid stream associated with the 7:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope MegaCam observations reaching apparent magnitudes of 24.5 in the gri filter were taken over three nights. Rates of motion on the sky allowed for the quick elimination of main-belt objects from the over 1000 moving sources seen. Eight candidates with on-sky rates of motion consistent with Taurids were detected, but seven were subsequently shown to be non-Taurids (Hungarias, Mars-crossers, etc). One object might be a 60 m class Taurid but not enough data was collected and its orbit remains ambiguous. Our results are consistent with no Taurid Swarm members observed, and an upper limit of fewer than 3e3 - 3e4 objects down to H=25.6 +/- 0.3 (diameter of 34-76 m assuming a 2P/Encke-like albedo) at the 95% confidence level. While meteor observations have confirmed the Taurid Swarm's existence at meter and smaller sizes, our results indicate that the current mass budget of the swarm at 100 m sizes does not require an outsize parent to explain it.